How to Use dust devil in a Sentence

dust devil

noun
  • The weather was strange, with storm clouds to the east, but at a far distance, and even a few dust devils, far to the north.
    Idaho Statesman, 2 Mar. 2016
  • Wiles, who is 17, didn't hesitate to get Zoya free of the dust devil.
    Mike Snider, USA TODAY, 16 May 2023
  • Then, last spring, like a dust devil of bad luck, Sykes’ life shattered.
    Los Angeles Times, 31 May 2021
  • Tim and Aymeric point out how the dust devil makes the movement of the air visible.
    Dava Sobel, Discover Magazine, 30 Jan. 2011
  • As a dust devil whirled, Michelle Binion, 56, marveled at the rupture caused by the first quake.
    Giulia McDonnell Nieto Del Rio, latimes.com, 9 July 2019
  • Aside from that, NASA can merely wait and hope that a dust devil sweeps over the lander and cleans its panels.
    Mike Wehner, BGR, 14 Apr. 2021
  • The dust devil blows off the catcher’s hat as the umpire wraps him in his arms and hurriedly moves him away from home plate.
    Leada Gore | Lgore@al.com, al, 15 May 2023
  • Dark streaks near the lander came from dust devils that moved over it in February.
    Ashley Strickland, CNN, 17 Oct. 2019
  • While tornados form from clouds and extend to the ground, a dust devil starts from a whirlwind at ground level.
    Allison Futterman, Discover Magazine, 15 Dec. 2021
  • The dust devil, a tiny little low pressure system, forms as a result.
    Angela Fritz, Washington Post, 8 May 2018
  • In the midst of the windy commotion, Percy managed to do something historic: capture the sound of a Martian dust devil for the first time.
    Marina Koren, The Atlantic, 17 Dec. 2022
  • In a matter of seconds, 7-year-old Bauer Zoya, a catcher, was caught up in a dust devil, the outlets reported.
    Abigail Adams, Peoplemag, 16 May 2023
  • Weaver guessed that the dust devil lasted about two minutes, which is typical.
    Allie Caren, Washington Post, 29 May 2018
  • The sound of a passing dust devil was recorded on Mars, where a four-hour marsquake revealed that shear waves move faster in the planet’s southern highlands.
    Matthew Gavin Frank, Harper's Magazine, 21 Mar. 2023
  • Broome now lives in Florida and captured the video showing a small – but fierce – dust devil whipping up on home plate just as a child was ready to swing his bat.
    Leada Gore | Lgore@al.com, al, 15 May 2023
  • Check out this impressive dust devil that happened in Japan.
    Allison Futterman, Discover Magazine, 15 Dec. 2021
  • There would be slap-you-in-the-face winds, zap-you-dry sunrays, freeze-your-teeth temperature drops, and clouds that would swirl like cartoon dust devils.
    Mark Johanson, Travel + Leisure, 29 July 2023
  • But before leaving the lowlands behind, on sol 1,597, the rover captured stop-motion video of dust devils streaking across the plains of Gale Crater.
    Avi Selk, Houston Chronicle, 4 Feb. 2018
  • The spacecraft could prove lucky if a dust devil — a miniature whirlwind swirling along the Martian landscape — passes over and blows the dust off the solar panels.
    Kenneth Chang, New York Times, 17 May 2022
  • The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter clued scientists in to a 12-mile-high dust devil, a version of which washes over you in the text.
    Amy Brady, Scientific American, 14 Mar. 2023
  • Zoya's father poured water on his son shortly after he was pulled out of the dust devil, according to WJXT.
    Abigail Adams, Peoplemag, 16 May 2023
  • The dust devil was located moving across the western rim of Mars’ Jezero Crater, according to Space.com.
    Ashlyn Messier, Fox News, 11 Apr. 2024
  • As the smoking ceremony began, recalls Jason Kelly, a willy willy (dust devil) swept from the desert and across the casket.
    David Maurice Smith, Smithsonian, 23 Aug. 2019
  • Named after a real town with a population of 134, the track spirals in a dust devil of isolation and identity.
    Lior Phillips, Variety, 4 Feb. 2022
  • Spirit found rocks suggestive of hot springs, photographed a dust devil, and scaled a Martian mountain before becoming trapped in loose sands.
    Dylan Moriarty, WSJ, 18 Feb. 2021
  • That direction is northwest to southeast — the same direction as dust devil streaks visible on the surface from orbit.
    Alison Klesman, Discover Magazine, 10 Dec. 2018
  • Even after InSight falls silent, there will remain a possibility that a passing dust devil could sweep the solar panels and the spacecraft could revive.
    Kenneth Chang, New York Times, 17 May 2022
  • Mars has seasonal weather patterns called dust devils that could clear that dust away, but those won't begin until November — by which point, the 45 days of active outreach will have ended.
    Meghan Bartels, Space.com, 12 Sep. 2018
  • The occasional dust devil would drift through the site, completing the post-apocalyptic rave aesthetic.
    Jordan Runtagh, PEOPLE.com, 13 Jan. 2020
  • Just last week, scientists revealed that InSight scored another first, capturing a Martian dust devil not just in pictures, but sound.
    Natalie Neysa Alund, USA TODAY, 21 Dec. 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'dust devil.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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