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tornado

Pronunciation: /tɔːˈneɪdəʊ/

Translate tornado | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of tornado

noun (plural tornadoes or tornados)

  • a mobile, destructive vortex of violently rotating winds having the appearance of a funnel-shaped cloud and advancing beneath a large storm system.
  • a person or thing characterized by violent or devastating action or emotion:teenagers caught up in a tornado of sexual confusion

Derivatives

tornadic

Pronunciation: /-ˈnadɪk/

adjective

Origin:

mid 16th century (denoting a violent thunderstorm of the tropical Atlantic Ocean): perhaps an alteration of Spanish tronada 'thunderstorm' (from tronar 'to thunder') by association with Spanish tornar 'to turn'

Spelling help

The plural of tornado can be spelled either tornadoes or tornados.

tornado in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of tornado in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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