cloud
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A visible mass of water or ice particles suspended at a considerable altitude.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
klowdIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈklaʊd
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A visible mass of water or ice particles suspended at a considerable altitude
A visible mass of water droplets suspended in the air.
Anything which makes things foggy or gloomy.
Any mass of dust, steam or smoke resembling such a mass.
figurative
Anything unsubstantial.
cloud computingwith "the"
The Internet, regarded as an abstract amorphous omnipresent space for processing and storage, the focus of cloud computing.
verb
intransitive
To become foggy or gloomy, or obscured from sight.
Make milky or dull
“The chemical clouded the liquid to which it was added.”
transitive
To make obscure.
Make less clear
“The stroke clouded memories of her youth.”
transitive
To make less acute or perceptive.
Make gloomy or depressed
“Their faces were clouded with sadness.”
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A visible mass of water or ice particles suspended at a considerable altitude
Used this way, cloud is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This sense is used where position and measurement matter — travel, weather and flight — so it reads as factual rather than emotive.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Geography/travel
- Weather/aviation
- Technical/specialist writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use cloud
- “After that mistake he was under a cloud.”noun
- “The only cloud on the horizon was the possibility of dissent by the French.”noun
- “The chemical clouded the liquid to which it was added.”verb
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Full of or covered with clouds.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Become covered with clouds.
A person who seeds clouds.
Become covered with clouds.
The process whereby water particles become visible in the sky.
Apparatus that detects the path of high-energy particles passing through a supersaturated vapor.
A layer of clouds seen from a distance.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
- smokenoun
- fognoun
- precipitationnoun
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: visible mass of water
Use This Word
See how this word sounds in a real sentence.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “cloud” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.