cyclone
n. countablen. a large storm with strong winds that spin around a calm center. It is the same type of storm as a hurricane, just with a different name.
n. a large rotating storm system characterized by low atmospheric pressure and high winds. The term is used for such storms in the Indian and South Pacific oceans, whereas 'hurricane' is used in the Atlantic.
The cyclone destroyed many houses on the coast.
Residents evacuated the island as the cyclone approached with winds exceeding one hundred kilometers per hour.
The cyclone's rapid intensification caught meteorologists off guard, forcing last-minute evacuation orders for the entire coastal region.
Coined by Henry Piddington, probably in the 1840s, and based on some term in Ancient Greek. Sources disagree on the date and on which Ancient Greek term, though it had to be something derived from either κύκλος (kúklos, “circle, wheel”) or κυκλόω (kuklóō, “go around in a circle, form a circle, encircle”), for example the present active participle κυκλῶν (kuklôn). See cycle and wheel.