Meaning & use

plume

noun·Academic

A large feather, or a column of smoke, dust, or vapor rising into the air.

See it in a sentence

A plume of black smoke rose from the factory after the explosion.

The dancer's costume featured a bright plume of feathers on her headpiece.

A note on using this word

The 'smoke plume' sense is now at least as common as the literal feather sense, especially in news and scientific writing.

Words with a similar meaning

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