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water cycle

Water cycle is defined as the way that water moves between being water vapor to liquid water and then back to water vapor.

(noun)

An example of water cycle is when water evaporates from oceans and then returns to the land in the form of rain.

See water cycle in Webster's New World College Dictionary

the continuous cycle in which water changes from water vapor in the atmosphere to liquid water through condensation and precipitation and then back to water vapor through evaporation, transpiration, and respiration

See water cycle in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

The cycle of evaporation and condensation that controls the distribution of the earth's water as it evaporates from bodies of water, condenses, precipitates, and returns to those bodies of water. Also called hydrologic cycle.

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