cloud nine
/ˈklaʊd ˈnaɪn/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.32 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
2
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "He was on cloud nine for days after she agreed to marry him."
- "In your zeal you may not feel you are undertaking a thing for your own sake but think you are doing so for God. Nevertheless, you should remember that at the time of great excitement as though you were on cloud nine, you may perhaps be most fleshly!"
- "Following a highly successful tour of Italy in July/August 1993, with recital and orchestral appearances and an especially inspiring last performance, I returned to New York on cloud nine and full of euphoria."
- "Most of us do not think of excitement as a problem. After all, doesn't everybody like to be on cloud number nine? I agree: if we could stay on cloud number nine, life might be very pleasant. But, as all of us know, the cloud eventually evaporates. Then we not only come abruptly back to earth; we usually burrow right into its depths and hide – that is, we go into a depression."
- "A. A. scanned the crowd and spotted Lili's happy face. Lili had been on cloud nine ever since she and Max had gotten back together."
- "On the first day at the university I was on cloud nine that I had begun my intellectual life. I was happy to join the cream of creams."
Etymology
The origin of sense 1 (“a state of bliss”) is uncertain; however, the following etymology has been suggested. (This etymology would explain the "nine" aspect, while not being the de novo origin of the "cloud" aspect; the extension of the meterological idea to an emotional valence would not have been a de novo development, as the association of clouds with dreaminess long predates the 1890s.) * The first edition of the International Cloud Atlas (1896), which defined ten types of cloud, described the ninth type as the cumulonimbus which rises to 10 km (6.2 miles), the highest a cloud can be. Compare cloud seven (“state of complete happiness or euphoria”), which may have originated from confusion of cloud nine with seventh heaven. Sense 2 (“a state of fantastic or impractical dreaming or thinking”) may be due to a confusion between sense 1 and the phrase head in the clouds.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈklaʊd ˈnaɪn/
- British English: /ˈklaʊd ˈnaɪn/