cyclone Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun (meteorology) rapid inward circulation of air masses about a low pressure center; circling counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern
noun a violent rotating windstorm

Gr. moving in a circle, p. pr. of , fr. circle.

(Meteor.) A violent storm, often of vast extent, characterized by high winds rotating about a calm center of low atmospheric pressure. This center moves onward, often with a velocity of twenty or thirty miles an hour. ✍ The atmospheric disturbance usually accompanying a cyclone, marked by an onward moving area of high pressure, is called an anticyclone.