Cupola

//ˈkupələ// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A dome-shaped ornamental structure located on top of a larger roof or dome.

    "the light falling dimly through the foggy cupola."

  2. 2
    a roof in the form of a dome wordnet
  3. 3
    A small turret, usually on a hatch of an armoured fighting vehicle.
  4. 4
    a vertical cylindrical furnace for melting iron for casting wordnet
  5. 5
    An upward-projecting mass of plutonic rock extending from a larger batholith.
Show 5 more definitions
  1. 6
    A solid formed by joining two polygons, one (the base) with twice as many edges as the other, by an alternating band of isosceles triangles and rectangles.
  2. 7
    A type of furnace used for smelting.

    "The cupola has a small cylindrical chimney-like bore that is lined with a refractory material."

  3. 8
    A small cap over a structure that is shaped like a dome or inverted cup.

    "the posterior cupola of the cartilaginous nasal capsule"

  4. 9
    a small viewing window in the top of the caboose for looking over the train, or the part of the caboose where one looks through this window. Canada, dated
  5. 10
    A body of members of the Sicilian Mafia who make decisions and settle disputes.

Synonyms

All synonyms
antenna towerapsearcadearcaturearcharched roof

Example

More examples

"This is Africa's Sahara Desert, as seen from the International Space Station's new seven-windowed cupola."

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian cupola, from Latin cūpula (“little tub”); from Latin cūpa, cuppa (“cup”); named for its resemblance to a cup turned over.

Related phrases

armoured fighting vehicleisosceles triangle

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.