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umbrella

Syllabification: (um·brel·la)
Pronunciation: /ˌəmˈbrelə/
Translate umbrella | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of umbrella

noun

  • 1a device consisting of a circular canopy of cloth on a folding metal frame supported by a central rod, used as protection against rain or sometimes sun.
  • 2a protecting force or influence:the American nuclear umbrella over the West
  • a screen of fighter aircraft or antiaircraft artillery.
  • 3 [usually as modifier] a thing that includes or contains many different elements or parts:an umbrella organization
  • 4 Zoology the gelatinous disk of a jellyfish, which it contracts and expands to move through the water.

Derivatives

umbrellaed

adjective

umbrellalike

Pronunciation: /-ˌlīk/
adjective

Origin:

early 17th century: from Italian ombrella, diminutive of ombra 'shade', from Latin umbra (see umbra)

Remember that umbrella is spelled umbr- at the beginning.

umbrella in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of umbrella in the British & World English dictionary

Nearby words

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