umbrella

Syllables: um·brel·laUK/ʌmˈbɹɛl.ə/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Southern US/ˈʌm.bɹɛl.ə/

umbrella noun: a cloth-covered frame used for protection against rain or sun.

Image: MONNIN Jacques, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

umbrella (plural umbrellas)

A cloth-covered frame used for protection against rain or sun.
- Quick, grab that umbrella before you get rained on!
- There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter II, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans...
Synonyms:

brelly
(figuratively) Anything that provides similar protection.
- The fighters provide a defensive air umbrella over the battle group.
(figuratively) Anything that provides similar overarching coverage of a range of concepts, purposes, groups, etc.
- The test facility was established under the umbrella of the company's quality program.
A strategy in which five players in the offensive zone form an umbrella-shaped formation around the opposition's goal net.
The main body of a jellyfish, excluding the tentacles.
- Jellyfish are composed of more than 90% water and most of their umbrella mass is made up of gelatinous material.
An umbrella-shaped reflector with a white or silvery inner surface, used to diffuse a nearby light.
- Using umbrellas for shooting a wedding party is ok, but not necessary.2014, Michael Allen, Modern Wedding Photography, page 97

Verb

umbrella (third-person singular simple present umbrellas, present participle umbrellaing, simple past and past participle umbrellaed)

(transitive) To cover or protect, as if by an umbrella.
- Experts with saws and ladders came and lopped off the lower branches. This sent the tree's growth rushing violently to her head in a lush overhanging which umbrellaed the House of All Sorts.1944, Emily Carr, “Life Loves Living”, in The House of All Sorts
- Huge pine and eucalyptus umbrellaed the grounds, airconditioning the morning.2008, Jonathan Kellerman, Bad Love: Alex Delaware 8
(intransitive) To form the dome shape of an open umbrella.
- Bright yellow gowns fit them tightly and umbrellaed from their waist to just below the knees.2011, B. A. Rothwell, The Peaceful Queen, page 31
(intransitive) To move like a jellyfish.
- The light catches the filigreed tendrils and graceful motion of the jellies, their orange bodies umbrella-ing along like fairy parasols come to life.1997, National Geographic Traveler, page 36

umbrella meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

umbrella in Hindi

cloth-covered frame used for protection against rain or sun: छाता chātā, छतरी chatrī

umbrella in Tamil

cloth-covered frame used for protection against rain or sun: குடை kuṭai

umbrella in Marathi

cloth-covered frame used for protection against rain or sun: छत्री chatrī

umbrella in Urdu

cloth-covered frame used for protection against rain or sun: چَھتْری chatrī, چھاتا chātā

More languagesFewer languages

umbrella in Bengali: ছাতা chata
umbrella in Telugu: గొడుగు goḍugu
umbrella in Malayalam: കുട kuṭa
umbrella in Kannada: ಛತ್ರಿ chatri
umbrella in Punjabi: ਛਤਰੀ chatrī
umbrella in Gujarati: છત્રી chatrī
umbrella in Odia: ଛତା chatā
umbrella in Sanskrit: छत्त्र chattra, छत्र chatra
umbrella in Sinhala: කුඩය kuḍaya
umbrella in Assamese: ছাতি sati
umbrella in Nepali: छाता chātā
umbrella in Pashto: چتر čatər, چترۍ čatrᶕy
umbrella in Tagalog: payong
umbrella in Arabic: مِظَلَّة miẓalla, شَمْسِيَّة šamsiyya, وَاقٍ wāqin, الْوَاقِي al-wāqī
umbrella in Malay: payung
umbrella in Indonesian: payung
umbrella in Thai: ร่ม rôm, ฉัตร chàt
umbrella in Vietnamese: dù, ô
umbrella in Myanmar: ထီး hti:
Kashmiri: چھٔتٕرؠ chạtụr'

Examples of umbrella in a sentence

Hold on to my umbrella while I ride the roller coaster.
I can't find my umbrella. I will've left it at home this morning.
Tourist guides often carry umbrellas so that they stand out in a crowd.

All 40 example sentences with umbrella

Synonyms of umbrella

All synonyms of umbrella

Forms of umbrella

Noun
plural	umbrellas
alternative form	brella
alternative form	humbrella
alternative form	ombrella
alternative form	umbrello
alternative form	umbreller
Verb
third-person singular present	umbrellas
present participle	umbrellaing
past participle	umbrellaed
past	umbrellaed

Plural of umbrella: umbrellas

Origin of umbrella

Borrowed from Italian ombrella (“parasol, sunshade”), from Late Latin umbrella (influenced by umbra (“shadow, shade”)), from Latin umbella, from umbra + -la (diminutive suffix).

Words formed from umbrella

Phrases with umbrella

11 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with umbrella

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about umbrella

What does umbrella mean?: Umbrella means a cloth-covered frame used for protection against rain or sun.
What is umbrella in Hindi?: Umbrella in Hindi is छाता (chātā), छतरी (chatrī). See Umbrella meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is umbrella?: Umbrella can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce umbrella?: Umbrella is pronounced /ʌmˈbɹɛl.ə/ (UK).
What is the plural of umbrella?: The plural of umbrella is umbrellas.

Words near umbrella in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: umbrella (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-umbrella.ogg.

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