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umbrella

umbrella

130 1.0
A stick with a cloth top people open to keep rain or sun off them
  • noun
  • /ʌmˈbrɛlə/
translation icon : paraguas
  • She opened her umbrella just in time to stay dry in the rain.
  • carry an umbrella
  • an umbrella for rain
  • hold an umbrella

Rain dripping from their hair and umbrellas pooling into puddles.

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Examples

  • If it is raining, the most efficient position to hold an umbrella is obviously vertical.

    Academic text (2005)
  • His mother was sitting eighty feet away, under a beach umbrella near the pool.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • And then I saw an an abandoned umbrella, and I used that.

  • And I was just a guy selling him an umbrella.

  • I brought you an umbrella.

  • Maybe we should take an umbrella.

  • Hold on, I'll get you an umbrella.

  • And I'm standing there in my high heels, no jacket, no umbrella, in the rain.

  • You will find sunblock in your quarters, as well as an umbrella and a cooler.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • Once outside, people stand under a few umbrellas, waiting for the caterers to finish setting up chairs.

    Fiction book (1992)

Synonyms

parasol
vsumbrella
10 3.3

A small umbrella that gives shade from the sun

is used for both rain and sun protection rather than sun only
brolly
vsumbrella
  • UK
1 9.5

A British informal word for an umbrella

is the standard neutral term rather than the colloquial British form
ombrellino
vsumbrella
9.9

A small umbrella you hold to protect from rain or sun

is the general device not limited to small size

Compounds

9.9

A small upright tree with large leaves that form rolled groups at the branch tips

A tall evergreen tree from Japan with needle-like leaves in umbrella-like groups at twig tips

A perennial plant with large umbrella-like leaves and white to pink flower clusters near streams

A perennial that blooms late with flat-topped clusters of small white flowers on rocky slopes

umbrella plant
  • South African
6.6

An African water plant with a circular fan of thin grass-like leaves used in ponds

umbrella sedge
  • South African
8.9

A water plant from Africa with a top group of thin leaves that spread like an umbrella

A small tent with a middle pole and metal bars that open like an umbrella

umbrella arum
  • Philippine
9.9

A tropical plant with large leaves, a dark red flower-like part, and edible underground stems

9.9

A large black tropical bird with a high crest and a long feathered neck wattle

umbrella fern
  • Australian
9.9

A large plant with fan-shaped leaves that fork many times

A small tree with large leaves at the ends of its branches and creamy white flowers

8.2

A medium-sized tree with a flat, wide top and edible seeds like almonds

umbrella tree
  • Australian
7.6

An evergreen plant often grown indoors with leaves that spread like an umbrella

7.4

A small tree that loses its leaves in autumn with large leaves like umbrellas and white spring flowers

How Protective

canopy
64 4.1
umbrella
130 1.0
parasol
10 3.3

Surface Forms

umbrella singular
umbrellas plural

Etymology

Umbrella comes from the Latin umbra, meaning 'shadow', and came into English through Italian ombrella. Think of it as a small, portable 'shadow' you carry to keep off rain or sun.