CYCLONIC

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does cyclonic mean? 

• CYCLONIC (adjective)
  The adjective CYCLONIC has 2 senses:

1. of or relating to or characteristic of the atmosphere around a low pressure center

2. of or relating to or characteristic of a violent tropical storm

  Familiarity information: CYCLONIC used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CYCLONIC (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Of or relating to or characteristic of the atmosphere around a low pressure center

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Synonyms:

cyclonal; cyclonic; cyclonical

Context example:

cyclonic cloud pattern

Domain category:

meteorology (the earth science dealing with phenomena of the atmosphere (especially weather))

Pertainym:

cyclone ((meteorology) rapid inward circulation of air masses about a low pressure center; circling counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern)

Derivation:

cyclone (a violent rotating windstorm)

cyclone ((meteorology) rapid inward circulation of air masses about a low pressure center; circling counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Of or relating to or characteristic of a violent tropical storm

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Synonyms:

cyclonal; cyclonic; cyclonical

Context example:

cyclonic destruction

Pertainym:

cyclone (a violent rotating windstorm)

Derivation:

cyclone (a violent rotating windstorm)

cyclone ((meteorology) rapid inward circulation of air masses about a low pressure center; circling counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern)

 Context examples 

The low pressure, or cyclonic air circulation, normally found in the western tropical Pacific and Indonesia, associated with a large, deep layer of warm ocean water.

(Indonesian Low, NOAA Paleoclimate Glossary)

Like Jupiter’s Great Red Spot (GRS), the storm swirls in an anti-cyclonic direction and is dredging up material from deep inside the ice giant planet’s atmosphere.

(Hubble Sees Neptune's Mysterious Shrinking Storm, NASA)

Jupiter's trademark Great Red Spot — a swirling anti-cyclonic storm larger than Earth — has shrunk to its smallest size ever measured.

(Jupiter's great red spot is shrinking, NASA)

But like Jupiter's Great Red Spot, the dark vortices swirl in an anti-cyclonic direction and seem to dredge up material from deeper levels in the ice giant's atmosphere.

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