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Glite Dictionary
cloud seeder

cloud seeder

7.6
A person who adds tiny particles to clouds to make rain
  • noun
  • /klaʊd ˈsiːdər/
  • Specialized
translation icon : sembrador de nubes
  • The government hired a cloud seeder to help alleviate the drought affecting the region.

Examples

  • Through the eyes of key individuals on the front lines of a crucial but largely unknown debate, the film introduces the cloud seeders struggling for mainstream recognition, the 'legitimate' scientists who doubt them, and the activists who decry any attempts to

    Blog text (30)

  • As a cloud seeder, she uses technology to increase rainfall during dry seasons.

  • The cloud seeder explained how his work could improve water supplies for agriculture.

Synonyms

rainmaker
vscloud seeder
  • Archaic
1 9.9

A person who performs ceremonies to bring rain for the community

uses technical airborne methods to cause or increase rainfall rather than rituals
seeder
vscloud seeder
  • Specialized
9.7

A person who releases substances into clouds to cause rain

is the longer explicit expression that highlights the cloud process

How Effective

cloud seeder
  • Specialized
7.6
device
∞ 2.1
cloudbuster
1 9.9
contraption
54 7.7
gimmick
64 5.6

Surface Forms

cloud seeder singular
cloud seeders plural

Morphology

cloud + seeder

The meaning is directly and transparently built from 'cloud' + 'seeder' — an agentive compound meaning a person who seeds clouds. The agentive -er morphology and noun-noun compounding are productive in English and cross-linguistically recognizable, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words can infer the role and purpose (inducing precipitation).

Etymology

Cloud seeder comes from the picture of planting, with a cloud and a seeder: imagine someone dropping tiny 'seeds' into a cloud so it will grow and 'make rain'. So a cloud seeder is a person who adds small particles to clouds to help 'make rain'.