Cyclone Meaning
/ˈsaɪ.kloʊn/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounAny weather phenomenon consisting of a system of winds rotating around a centre of low atmospheric pressure; a low pressure system.
nounA tropical cyclone occurring in the South Pacific or Indian Ocean.
Sentence Examples
Algeria isn't in a cyclone region.
The cyclone destroyed everything in its path.
Many houses in my village have been destroyed by the cyclone.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The powerful ____ destroyed homes and uprooted trees along coastal villages.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Algeria isn't in a ____ region.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The product is cycloned and overflow at 45-50% solids is pumped to primary flotation where 50-70% of the copper is removed as a 21% concentrate."
— 1977, Western Miner and Oil Review - Volume 50, page 35:
"The Syncrude Tar Sand Mine in Alberta, Canada uses a similar hydraulic cell construction technique to raise tailings embankments, although tailings are not cycloned."
— 1988, Dirk J. A. Van Zyl, Steven G. Vick, Hydraulic Fill Structures, page 59:
"Some catsup manufacturers demand a hot break before the tomatoes are cycloned in order to retain the largest possible amount of pectin from the tomatoes."
— 2013, WA Gould, Tomato Production, Processing and Technology, page 238:
"What difference if it rained, hailed, blew, snowed, cycloned?"
— 1907, O. Henry, “The Purple Dress”, in The Trimmed Lamp:
"White dust was cycloning at the bottom of ravines that cut for miles into the red flatness"
— 1997, D. J. H. Jones, Murder in the New Age:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The powerful ____ destroyed homes and uprooted trees along coastal villages.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Algeria isn't in a ____ region.