Adjacent Words

Tornado definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

TORNA'DO, n. [from the root of turn; that is, a whirling wind.]
A violent gust of wind, or a tempest, distinguished by a whirling motion. tornadoes of this kind happen after extreme heat, and sometimes in the United States, rend up fences and trees, and in a few instances have overthrown houses and torn them to pieces. Tornadoes are usually accompanied with severe thunder, lightning and torrents of rain; but they are of short duration, and narrow in breadth.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a localized and violently destructive windstorm occurring over land characterized by a funnel-shaped cloud extending toward the ground [syn: tornado, twister]
2: a purified and potent form of cocaine that is smoked rather than snorted; highly addictive [syn: crack, crack cocaine, tornado]

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural -does or -dos) Etymology: modification of Spanish tronada thunderstorm, from tronar to thunder, from Latin tonare — more at thunder Date: 1556 1. archaic a tropical thunderstorm 2. a. a squall accompanying a thunderstorm in Africa b. a violent destructive whirling wind accompanied by a funnel-shaped cloud that progresses in a narrow path over the land 3. a violent windstorm ; whirlwind

NOAA Weather Glossary

A violent rotating column of air, in contact with the ground, pendant froma cumulonimbus cloud. A tornado does not require the visible presence of a funnel cloud.  It has a typical width of tens to hundreds of meters and a lifespan of minutes tohours.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (pl. -oes) 1 a violent storm of small extent with whirling winds, esp.: a in West Africa at the beginning and end of the rainy season. b in the US etc. over a narrow path often accompanied by a funnel-shaped cloud. 2 an outburst or volley of cheers, hisses, missiles, etc. Derivatives: tornadic adj. Etymology: app. assim. of Sp. tronada thunderstorm (f. tronar to thunder) to Sp. tornar to turn

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Tornado Tor*na"do, n.; pl. Tornadoes. [From Sp. or Pg. tornar to turn, return, L. tornare to turn, hence, a whirling wind. The Sp. & Pg. tornada is a return. See Turn.] A violent whirling wind; specifically (Meteorol.), a tempest distinguished by a rapid whirling and slow progressive motion, usually accompaned with severe thunder, lightning, and torrents of rain, and commonly of short duration and small breadth; a small cyclone

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(tornadoes, or tornados) A tornado is a violent wind storm consisting of a tall column of air which spins round very fast and causes a lot of damage. N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Storm (of great violence and with a whirling motion), hurricane, whirlwind, tempest, cyclone, blizzard.

Moby Thesaurus

baguio, blaze, burst, convulsion, cyclone, dirty weather, dust devil, eruption, explosion, fit, flare-up, foul weather, gale, gust, hurricane, irruption, line squall, outbreak, outburst, paroxysm, rainspout, rainstorm, rotary storm, rough weather, sand column, sandspout, seizure, snowstorm, spasm, squall, storm, stormy weather, tempest, tempestuous rage, thunderstorm, twister, typhoon, upheaval, waterspout, whirlblast, whirlwind, wind eddy, windstorm