Cumulus: meaning, definitions and examples

Scientific or technical contexts, often used in meteorology when discussing weather patterns.

• Cumulus clouds are typically associated with fair weather.
• Meteorologists observed cumulus clouds indicating stable atmospheric conditions.

Less common, sometimes used in poetic or archaic descriptions to imply large, piled cloud formations.

• Heap clouds gathered on the horizon, promising a calm and peaceful afternoon.
• The artist painted the sky filled with heap clouds, emphasizing their majestic forms.

Casual conversation or descriptions, often used to give a friendly, light-hearted impression of the clouds.

• Children pointed at the puffy clouds, seeing shapes and animals in them.
• The sky was filled with puffy clouds that seemed to dance in the breeze.

Informal or creative contexts, often used in storytelling or descriptions to evoke imagery.

• The sky was dotted with cotton clouds that looked soft enough to sleep on.
• She gazed up at the cotton clouds, daydreaming about distant lands.

Commonly used in everyday conversation or informal writing to describe clouds associated with nice weather.

• Look at those fair-weather clouds, it’s going to be a lovely day.
• Fair-weather clouds floated lazily across the sky.