English Explanatory Dictionary

cyclone

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Any weather phenomenon consisting of a system of winds rotating around a centre of low atmospheric pressure; a low pressure system.
  2. A tropical cyclone occurring in the South Pacific or Indian Ocean.
  3. The more or less violent, small-scale circulations such as tornadoes, waterspouts, and dust devils.
  4. A strong wind.
  5. A cyclone separator; the cylindrical vortex tube within such a separator
verb
  1. To separate using a cyclone separator.
  2. To storm as a cyclone.
  3. To whirl in spirals as a result of a cyclone or whirlwind-like force.
  4. To storm wildly; to be in a frenzy.

Pronunciation

/ˈsaɪ.kloʊn/ /ˈsaɪ.kləʊn/ En-us-cyclone.ogg

Word forms

cyclone cyclones cycloning cycloned

Etymology

Coined by Henry Piddington, probably in the 1840s, and based on some term in Ancient Greek. Sources disagree on the date and on which Ancient Greek term, though it had to be something derived from either κύκλος (kúklos, “circle, wheel”) or κυκλόω (kuklóō, “go around in a circle, form a circle, encircle”), for example the present active participle κυκλῶν (kuklôn). See cycle and wheel.

Synonyms

storm typhoon hurricane

Related words

hurricane typhoon polar vortex

Derived words

anticyclone bomb cyclone cyclone cellar cyclone chaser cyclone fence cyclone hunter cyclonelike cyclone pit cyclone sandwich cyclonic cyclonoscope extratropical cyclone ex-tropical cyclone hydrocyclone mesocyclone misocyclone multicyclone news cyclone subtropical cyclone supercyclone tropical cyclone
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