upper air
Americannoun
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the atmosphere above the lower portion of the troposphere.
Etymology
Origin of upper air
First recorded in 1875–80
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The idea is the jet stream — the upper air circulation that drives weather — is wavier in amplified global warming, said University of Wisconsin-Madison climate scientist Steve Vavrus.
From Seattle Times • Jan. 16, 2024
But to me, they are creatures of the upper air, and of their nature unintelligible, which makes them more akin to angels.
From New York Times • Jul. 29, 2020
She could see nothing, but heard a distant rumble from the upper air.
From Slate • Jun. 10, 2019
These delightful pieces end up transcending their constraints and become tales of pure information, occupying the rarified upper air where we also find Borges’s “Pierre Menard” and Nabokov’s “Pale Fire.”
From The New Yorker • Jan. 6, 2019
Mary Poppins was in the upper air now, floating away over the cherry-trees and the roofs of the houses, holding tightly to the umbrella with one hand and to the carpet bag with the other.
From "Mary Poppins" by P. L. Travers
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.