clear-air turbulence

1. 1.

   strong turbulence in an otherwise cloudless region that subjects aircraft to violent updrafts or downdrafts

   Broaderturbulence

Questions about clear-air turbulence

What does clear-air turbulence mean?

clear-air turbulence means "strong turbulence in an otherwise cloudless region that subjects aircraft to violent updrafts or downdrafts".

Is clear-air turbulence a common word?

clear-air turbulence is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.