the nacreous lining of the shell of a mollusk

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An alternative explanation is that the red skies were the result of nacreous clouds common to that particular latitude. Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, "X-rays reveal the key to preserving Edvard Munch’s The Scream," 21 May 2020

Also called polar stratospheric clouds (or less precisely, rainbow clouds), nacreous clouds normally only form in high latitudes and at extremely cold temperatures. National Geographic, "Rare Shimmering Rainbow Clouds Appear Over the U.K.," 3 Feb. 2016

The cold air the storm blew in also led to the formation of beautiful nacreous clouds. National Geographic, "Rare Shimmering Rainbow Clouds Appear Over the U.K.," 3 Feb. 2016

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'nacreous.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.