CLOUD

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does cloud mean? 

• CLOUD (noun)
  The noun CLOUD has 6 senses:

1. any collection of particles (e.g., smoke or dust) or gases that is visible

2. a visible mass of water or ice particles suspended at a considerable altitude

3. out of touch with reality

4. a cause of worry or gloom or trouble

5. suspicion affecting your reputation

6. a group of many things in the air or on the ground

  Familiarity information: CLOUD used as a noun is common.

• CLOUD (verb)
  The verb CLOUD has 8 senses:

1. make overcast or cloudy

2. make less visible or unclear

3. billow up in the form of a cloud

4. make gloomy or depressed

5. place under suspicion or cast doubt upon

6. make less clear

7. colour with streaks or blotches of different shades

8. make milky or dull

  Familiarity information: CLOUD used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CLOUD (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any collection of particles (e.g., smoke or dust) or gases that is visible

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Hypernyms ("cloud" is a kind of...):

physical phenomenon (a natural phenomenon involving the physical properties of matter and energy)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cloud"):

aerosol (a cloud of solid or liquid particles in a gas)

mushroom; mushroom-shaped cloud; mushroom cloud (a large cloud of rubble and dust shaped like a mushroom and rising into the sky after an explosion (especially of a nuclear bomb))

dust cloud (a cloud of dust suspended in the air)

cosmic dust (clouds of particles or gases occurring throughout interstellar space)

nebula (an immense cloud of gas (mainly hydrogen) and dust in interstellar space)

coma ((astronomy) the luminous cloud of particles surrounding the frozen nucleus of a comet; forms as the comet approaches the sun and is warmed)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A visible mass of water or ice particles suspended at a considerable altitude

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Hypernyms ("cloud" is a kind of...):

atmospheric phenomenon (a physical phenomenon associated with the atmosphere)

Meronyms (substance of "cloud"):

water vapor; water vapour (water in a vaporous form diffused in the atmosphere but below boiling temperature)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cloud"):

cirrocumulus; cirrocumulus cloud (a cloud at a high altitude consisting of a series of regularly arranged small clouds resembling ripples)

stratus; stratus cloud (a large dark low cloud)

storm cloud (a heavy dark cloud presaging rain or a storm)

nimbus; nimbus cloud; rain cloud (a dark grey cloud bearing rain)

nebule (a small cloud)

mother-of-pearl cloud; nacreous cloud (a luminous iridescent cloud at a high altitude that may be seen when the sun is a few degrees below the horizon)

cumulonimbus; cumulonimbus cloud; thundercloud (a dark cloud of great vertical extent charged with electricity; associated with thunderstorms)

condensation trail; contrail (an artificial cloud created by an aircraft; caused either by condensation due to the reduction in air pressure above the wing surface or by water vapor in the engine exhaust)

cloud bank (a layer of clouds seen from a distance)

cirrus; cirrus cloud (a wispy white cloud (usually of fine ice crystals) at a high altitude (4 to 8 miles))

cirrostratus; cirrostratus cloud (a thin uniform layer of hazy cloud at high altitude)

cumulus; cumulus cloud (a globular cloud)

Holonyms ("cloud" is a part of...):

sky (the atmosphere and outer space as viewed from the earth)

Derivation:

cloud (billow up in the form of a cloud)

cloud (make overcast or cloudy)

cloudy (full of or covered with clouds)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Out of touch with reality

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Context example:

his head was in the clouds

Hypernyms ("cloud" is a kind of...):

irreality; unreality (the state of being insubstantial or imaginary; not existing objectively or in fact)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A cause of worry or gloom or trouble

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Context example:

the only cloud on the horizon was the possibility of dissent by the French

Hypernyms ("cloud" is a kind of...):

gloom; gloominess; glumness (an atmosphere of depression and melancholy)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Suspicion affecting your reputation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Context example:

after that mistake he was under a cloud

Hypernyms ("cloud" is a kind of...):

suspicion (the state of being suspected)

Derivation:

cloud (place under suspicion or cast doubt upon)

Sense 6

Meaning:

A group of many things in the air or on the ground

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

cloud; swarm

Context example:

it discharged a cloud of spores

Hypernyms ("cloud" is a kind of...):

group; grouping (any number of entities (members) considered as a unit)

Meronyms (members of "cloud"):

insect (small air-breathing arthropod)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cloud"):

infestation; plague (a swarm of insects that attack plants)

• CLOUD (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they cloud    ... he / she / it clouds   
Past simple: clouded   
Past participle: clouded   
-ing form: clouding   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make overcast or cloudy

Classified under:

Verbs of raining, snowing, thawing, thundering

Synonyms:

cloud; overcast

Context example:

Fall weather often overcasts our beaches

Hypernyms (to "cloud" is one way to...):

darken (make dark or darker)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "cloud"):

fog up (get foggy)

haze (become hazy, dull, or cloudy)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Also:

cloud over; cloud up (become covered with clouds)

Derivation:

cloud (a visible mass of water or ice particles suspended at a considerable altitude)

clouding (the process whereby water particles become visible in the sky)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make less visible or unclear

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

becloud; befog; cloud; fog; haze over; mist; obnubilate; obscure

Context example:

the big elm tree obscures our view of the valley

Hypernyms (to "cloud" is one way to...):

conceal; hide (prevent from being seen or discovered)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "cloud"):

overshadow (cast a shadow upon)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Billow up in the form of a cloud

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Context example:

The smoke clouded above the houses

Hypernyms (to "cloud" is one way to...):

billow; wallow (rise up as if in waves)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

cloud (a visible mass of water or ice particles suspended at a considerable altitude)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Make gloomy or depressed

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Context example:

Their faces were clouded with sadness

Hypernyms (to "cloud" is one way to...):

affect; impress; move; strike (have an emotional or cognitive impact upon)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

Sense 5

Meaning:

Place under suspicion or cast doubt upon

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

cloud; corrupt; defile; sully; taint

Context example:

sully someone's reputation

Hypernyms (to "cloud" is one way to...):

deflower; impair; mar; spoil; vitiate (make imperfect)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

cloud (suspicion affecting your reputation)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Make less clear

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

the stroke clouded memories of her youth

Hypernyms (to "cloud" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sense 7

Meaning:

Colour with streaks or blotches of different shades

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

cloud; dapple; mottle

Hypernyms (to "cloud" is one way to...):

spot (mark with a spot or spots so as to allow easy recognition)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "cloud"):

harlequin (variegate with spots or marks)

speckle; stipple (produce a mottled effect)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 8

Meaning:

Make milky or dull

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

The chemical clouded the liquid to which it was added

Hypernyms (to "cloud" is one way to...):

dull (make less lively or vigorous)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

 Context examples 

The huge stove roared red hot and white hot, while the irons, moving over the damp cloth, sent up clouds of steam.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I looked towards my windows, and could see nothing but the clouds and sky.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

This year, you will have an open road to choose beautiful gifts you can wrap in clouds of tissue paper and satin ribbon—instead of resorting to safe gift cards.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

‘Well, the fact is,’ he remarked, ‘that when I recover from these attacks my mind is always very clouded as to all that has gone before.’

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was a perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the heavens.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Amid a rolling cloud of dust, I caught a glimpse of a pale, agitated face—a face with horror in every lineament, the mouth open, the eyes staring wildly in front.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The next morning the sun was behind a cloud, but they started on, as if they were quite sure which way they were going.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

The predicted altitude for loss of signal is approximately 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) above Saturn's cloud tops.

(Cassini Spacecraft Makes Its Final Approach to Saturn, NASA)

To the right of the dark feature are bright white "companion clouds."

(Hubble Reveals Dynamic Atmospheres of Uranus, Neptune, NASA)

All galaxies, according to this theory, form and are embedded within clouds of dark matter.

(Cosmic Magnifying Glasses Find Dark Matter in Small Clumps, NASA)