How to Use cirrus in a Sentence

cirrus

noun
  • This species of cirrus cloud is distinct for its hook-at-the-end feature.
    — Noel Kirkpatrick, Treehugger, 7 Aug. 2025
  • First, physicists came to grips with high clouds—the icy, wispy ones like cirrus clouds that are miles high.
    — Natalie Wolchover, WIRED, 3 Mar. 2019
  • There were just a few wispy cirrus clouds in the bright blue sky, but that was enough to spark a fire rainbow.
    — Caitlin O'Kane, CBS News, 11 June 2018
  • As the pulse locks in, organ drones arc overhead like streaking cirrus clouds.
    — Dash Lewis, Pitchfork, 29 Jan. 2026
  • Tom looks at 10 pages of class notes on cumulus, stratus, and cirrus clouds and starts to panic.
    — Brian Platzer, The Atlantic, 23 Mar. 2021
  • Crown Lands singer/drummer Cody Bowles commands cirrus-scaling pipes and hot beats.
    — Matt Wake | [email protected], al, 25 Oct. 2022
  • These are clearly very high-altitude cirrus, or ice clouds, definitely not liquid.
    — Washington Post, 16 July 2021
  • Fall streaks happen when the heavier ice crystals in cirrus clouds fall into and evaporate into the drier air below the cloud.
    — oregonlive, 6 Dec. 2019
  • Inside, cirrus clouds are comprised almost entirely of ice crystals.
    — Noel Kirkpatrick, Treehugger, 7 Aug. 2025
  • Thin cirrus clouds will then begin to approach the coast right around sunset as temperatures quickly fall back to the 50s.
    — Gerry Díaz, San Francisco Chronicle, 16 Nov. 2022
  • The three main types are cirrus, cirrostratus and cirrocumulus.
    — Anna Kaufman, USA TODAY, 17 July 2022
  • Harps, flutes and vibraphones formed dissociating patterns like cirrus clouds atop the thick colors of an organ.
    — Washington Post, 29 Oct. 2021
  • While airborne, water droplets freeze on these soot particles to form ice crystals, which remain in the atmosphere as cirrus clouds for several hours.
    — Srishti Gupta, Interesting Engineering, 29 Apr. 2026
  • Nearly horizontal ice particles in cirrus clouds that are 3- to 5-miles high up in the atmosphere.
    — Richard Tribou, OrlandoSentinel.com, 17 May 2017
  • Unlike most cirrus clouds, however, fibratus clouds do not have tufts or hooks at the end, and the strands are clearly separate from one another.
    — Noel Kirkpatrick, Treehugger, 7 Aug. 2025
  • While some contrails fade out quickly, others spread out to form high-altitude cirrus clouds, which have a significant warming effect.
    — David Hambling, Popular Mechanics, 15 Nov. 2022
  • The alto cirrus indicate a change in weather, the mare’s tail mean high-altitude winds, the cumulus means building moisture.
    — Tom Stienstra, San Francisco Chronicle, 28 May 2018
  • Another idea requires thinning cirrus clouds so heat could more easily escape Earth’s surface.
    — Darren Orf, Popular Mechanics, 9 Nov. 2022
  • When the cirrus clouds are lit with color, they can be mistaken for iridescence, according to the NWS.
    — Caitlin O'Kane, CBS News, 12 Aug. 2022
  • Dense forest had suddenly given way to a lake flanked by mountains — a Chia pet landscape of undulating greenery beneath a vivid blue sky streaked with cirrus clouds.
    — Jada Yuan, New York Times, 8 May 2018
  • Strips of high-altitude cirrus clouds, indicated that Josephine had developed some healthy upper-level outflow.
    — Matthew Cappucci, BostonGlobe.com, 13 Aug. 2020
  • In fact, the warming effect from cirrus contrails is actually greater than that of the CO2 from burning aviation fuel.
    — David Hambling, Popular Mechanics, 15 Nov. 2022
  • This species of cloud appears in cirrus, cirrocumulus, attocumulus and stratocumulus clouds.
    — Noel Kirkpatrick, Treehugger, 7 Aug. 2025
  • High clouds are classified as either cirrus, cirrostratus, or cirrocumulus.
    — Catherine Zuckerman, National Geographic, 24 Apr. 2019
  • For example, thin, wispy cirrus clouds, the most common type of high cloud, are difficult to spot against a background of snow, according to NASA.
    — Alessandra Potenza, The Verge, 16 Mar. 2018
  • The wind-shear phenomenon can occur in wispy cirrus clouds or even clear air near thunderstorms, as differences in temperature and pressure create powerful currents of fast-moving air.
    — Audrey McAvoy, USA TODAY, 19 Dec. 2022
  • But detailed observers will notice some cirrus on the southeast horizon and -- believe it or not -- this is actually the outer cloud bands of Hurricane Dorian.
    — Sarah Brookbank, Cincinnati.com, 5 Sep. 2019
  • So cloud iridescence usually happens in lenticular or alto-cumulus, cirrus and cirrocumulus clouds.
    — Caitlin O'Kane, CBS News, 12 Aug. 2022
  • Beyond tropical systems, cirrus clouds are often the earliest indicator of an oncoming cold or warm front, signifying moisture being pulled into the area by the front.
    — Mary Wasson, Austin American Statesman, 9 Sep. 2025
  • Since the sun is low to the horizon, those alternating shadows and strips of light were projected onto the underside of the thinner, more diaphanous cirrus clouds, which acted like a canvas for the delicate pastel hues.
    — Washington Post, 5 Oct. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cirrus.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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