# cloudy

/ˈkɫaʊdi/ (US) · /klˈaʊdi/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/cloudy
Updated: 2026-06-20

## Senses

### 1. weather

adjective · CEFR A2

when the sky is full of clouds and you cannot see the sun clearly.

For teachers: characterised by a sky covered with clouds; having little or no sunshine.

- It was a cloudy morning, so we decided to bring our umbrellas just in case.
- The forecast predicts a cloudy afternoon with intermittent drizzle, which may impact the visibility for the outdoor photography session.

### 2. not clear

adjective · CEFR B1

describing a liquid or glass that you cannot see through clearly.

For teachers: lacking transparency or clarity; containing sediment or particles that make a substance opaque.

- The water in the fish tank looked cloudy and needed to be changed.
- The chemist noted that the solution became cloudy upon the addition of the reagent, indicating the formation of a precipitate.

### 3. uncertain

adjective · CEFR B2

not clear in meaning or difficult to understand.

For teachers: metaphorically unclear, confused, or lacking in definition.

- His memory of the accident was a bit cloudy because it happened so fast.
- The legal implications of the new contract remain cloudy, as several clauses appear to contradict existing employment regulations.

### 4. computing

adjective · CEFR B2 · Informal

relating to services or data stored on the internet instead of a local computer.

For teachers: pertaining to cloud computing environments or services hosted on remote servers.

- Our company is moving toward a more cloudy setup to save money on servers.
- The startup's infrastructure is entirely cloudy, allowing them to scale their operations rapidly without investing in physical hardware.

Usage: Often used as a casual shorthand for 'cloud-based'.

Teaching tip: This is a relatively modern, informal usage; in professional technical writing, 'cloud-based' or 'cloud-native' is preferred.

## Examples

- It is cloudy today, so take an umbrella.
- The forecast predicts cloudy skies for the weekend, which might cancel our picnic plans.
- The landscape lay shrouded in a thick, cloudy haze that muted the colors of the distant mountains.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.