Word.ws English Dictionary

cloud burst

cloud burst is the alternative form of cloudburst.

Meaning of cloudburst

Noun

cloudburst (plural cloudbursts)

  1. A sudden heavy rainstorm.
    • [B]ut the sound . . . expressed an utter abandonment to grief; not the cloud-burst of some passing emotion, but the slow down-pour of a whole heaven of sorrow.1899, Edith Wharton, “A Cup of Cold Water”, in The Greater Inclination
  2. (figuratively) A sudden downfall or shortcoming.
    • "[...] [T]his great storm of a beating would rain down on our backs?"
      "Yours, at least, Sancho," replied Don Quixote, "must be accustomed to such cloudbursts; but mine, brought up on cambric and fine Dutch linen, of course will feel more deeply the pain of this misfortune.Part 1 published in 1605, Part 2 in 1615, translated in 2003, Miguel de Cervantes and translated by Edith Grossman, Don Quixote, page 106

Forms of cloud burst

pluralcloud bursts

Questions about cloud burst

What is cloud burst the alternative form of?
Cloud burst is the alternative form of cloudburst.

Words near cloud burst in the dictionary

  1. cloud bases
  2. cloud bow
  3. cloud bows
  4. cloud bread
  5. cloud breads
  6. cloud burst
  7. cloud bursts
  8. cloud canal
  9. cloud canals
  10. cloud ceiling
  11. cloud ceilings

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cloud burst (page history and authors); cloudburst (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “cloud burst.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cloud_burst. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.