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cloud.

A visible mass of water droplets suspended in the air.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈklaʊ̯d/General-American, Received-Pronunciation[ˈkʰl̥aʊ̯d]General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈklæʊ̯d/[ˈkʰl̥æʊ̯d]
  1. A visible mass of water droplets suspended in the air.

  2. Any mass of dust, steam or smoke resembling such a mass.

  3. Anything reminiscent of a cloud.

    The ship moved forward under a cloud of sail.
  4. Anything which makes things foggy, unclear or gloomy.

  5. Anything unsubstantial.

    figuratively
  6. A dark spot on a lighter material or background.

  7. A group or swarm of insects, various animals or people, especially when flying.

    collective
    He opened the door and was greeted by a cloud of bats.
  8. An elliptical shape or symbol whose outline is a series of semicircles, supposed to resemble a cloud.

    The comic-book character's thoughts appeared in a cloud above his head.
  9. A telecom network (from their representation in engineering drawings).

  10. The Internet, regarded as an abstract amorphous omnipresent space for processing and storage, the focus of cloud computing.

    with-definite-article
  11. A negative or foreboding aspect of something positive: see every cloud has a silver lining or every silver lining has a cloud.

    figuratively
  12. Crystal methamphetamine.

    slang
  13. A large, loosely-knitted headscarf worn by women.

  14. A white cat.

    Internet · endearing · humorous
  15. A rock; boulder; a hill.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English cloud, from Old English clūd (“mass of stone, rock, boulder, hill”), from Proto-West Germanic *klūt, from Proto-Germanic *klūtaz, *klutaz (“lump, mass, conglomeration”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to ball up, clench”). Cognate with Scots clood, clud (“cloud”), Dutch kluit (“lump, mass, clod”), German Low German Kluut, Kluute (“lump, mass, ball”), German Kloß (“lump, ball, dumpling”), Danish klode (“sphere, orb, planet”), Swedish klot (“sphere, orb, ball, globe”), Icelandic klót (“knob on a sword's hilt”). Related to English clod, clot, clump, club. Largely replaced Middle English welkne, from Old English wolcn (whence English welkin), from Proto-Germanic *wulkną, the original Germanic word for cloud (compare Dutch wolk, German Wolke, North Frisian and West Frisian wolk).

verb/ˈklaʊ̯d/General-American, Received-Pronunciation[ˈkʰl̥aʊ̯d]General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈklæʊ̯d/[ˈkʰl̥æʊ̯d]
  1. To become foggy or gloomy, or obscured from sight.

    intransitive
    The glass clouds when you breathe on it.
  2. To overspread or hide with a cloud or clouds.

    transitive
    The sky is clouded.
  3. Of the breath, to become cloud; to turn into mist.

  4. To make obscure.

    transitive
    All this talk about human rights is clouding the real issue.
  5. To make less acute or perceptive.

    transitive
    Your emotions are clouding your judgement.
    The tears began to well up and cloud my vision.
  6. To make gloomy or sullen.

    transitive
  7. To blacken; to sully; to stain; to tarnish (reputation or character).

    transitive
  8. To mark with, or darken in, veins or sports; to variegate with colors.

    transitive
    to cloud yarn
  9. To become marked, darkened or variegated in this way.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English cloud, from Old English clūd (“mass of stone, rock, boulder, hill”), from Proto-West Germanic *klūt, from Proto-Germanic *klūtaz, *klutaz (“lump, mass, conglomeration”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to ball up, clench”). Cognate with Scots clood, clud (“cloud”), Dutch kluit (“lump, mass, clod”), German Low German Kluut, Kluute (“lump, mass, ball”), German Kloß (“lump, ball, dumpling”), Danish klode (“sphere, orb, planet”), Swedish klot (“sphere, orb, ball, globe”), Icelandic klót (“knob on a sword's hilt”). Related to English clod, clot, clump, club. Largely replaced Middle English welkne, from Old English wolcn (whence English welkin), from Proto-Germanic *wulkną, the original Germanic word for cloud (compare Dutch wolk, German Wolke, North Frisian and West Frisian wolk).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.