Plural of “tornado”
- The plural of tornado is tornados or tornadoes.
Both are accepted plurals to mention more than one tornado.
Other words ending in -o / -es or -s
Like other singular nouns that end in –o, tornado adds –s or –es to convert to a plural noun. Other examples of words that use this pattern includes volcano/volcanoes/volcanos, echo/echoes/echos, mango/mangoes.
| singular nouns ending in “-o” | plural “-es” / “-s” |
| zero | zeroes or zeros |
| tornado | tornadoes or tornados |
| buffalo | buffaloes or buffalos |
| potato | potatoes |
| hero | heroes |
| volcano | volcanos or volcanoes |
It’s important to keep in mind that not all singular nouns ending in -o switch to a plural this way. Some just add -s, where others add -es (e.g., radio/radios, video/videos or hero/heroes).
What is a tornado?
Tornados are a naturally occurring phenomena that are mobile, destructive and a “vortex of violently rotating winds having the appearance of a funnel-shaped cloud and advancing beneath a large storm system.”
Examples of tornado (singular) in sentences
She burst in to the room like a tornado.
A powerful tornado touched down in Evansville, Indiana.
The building was badly damaged in a tornado.
The town was hit by a tornado last night.
There are tornado watches in effect all across eastern Alabama.
Examples of tornadoes/tornados (plural) in sentences
Tornadoes ripped into the southern United States yesterday.
Tropical storm Bonnie spawned tornadoes in North Carolina.
Storms and tornadoes left a swath of destruction that included parts of Clarksville, where three people died, and near Nashville, where three others were killed.
—Jamie McGee, New York Times, 10 Dec. 2023
The storms produced tornadoes, which caused damage to both automobiles and homes.
There are many stories of animals growing restless before tornados, storms and earthquakes.
—Times, Sunday Times (2007)
Examples of tornado in the media/online
Southern California’s stormy week is set to wind down Friday after two storm systems that brought tornado warnings, heavy flooding and at-times historic rainfall rates, especially in parts of Ventura County.
—Jeremy Childs, Los Angeles Times, 22 Dec. 2023
The main hazards are expected to be damaging winds and a tornado threat, along with flooding.
—Kenton Gewecke, ABC News, 17 Dec. 2023
Severe thunderstorms that could bring isolated nocturnal tornadoes in parts of the state, including Tampa and Orlando, are also possible.
—Minyvonne Burke, NBC News, 16 Dec. 2023
Taylor Swift dipped into her considerable fortune to help those impacted by the deadly tornadoes that swept through Middle Tennessee Saturday.
—Meghan Overdeep, Southern Living, 13 Dec. 2023
Synonyms of tornado
- whirlwind
- twister
- windstorm
- cyclone
- storm
- tempest
- typhoon
- funnel
- gale
Origin of the word “tornado”
From etymology online on volcano (n.):
1550s, ternado, navigator’s word for violent windy thunderstorm in the tropical Atlantic, probably a mangled borrowing from Spanish tronada “thunderstorm,” from tronar “to thunder,” from Latin tonare “to thunder”.
Read about other plurals
- What’s the plural of bison?
- What’s the plural of moose?
- What’s the plural of sheep?
- What’s the plural of ox?
- What’s the plural of cactus?
- What’s the plural of crisis?
- What’s the plural of hypothesis?
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