cauldron

noun

caul·​dron ˈkȯl-drən 

variants or less commonly caldron

1

: a large kettle or boiler

2

: something resembling a boiling cauldron in intensity or degree of agitation

a cauldron of intense emotions

Examples of cauldron in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Chicago under your leadership has become a cauldron of frustration. —Desmon Yancy, Chicago Tribune, 3 Mar. 2025

The corona is the cauldron where coronal mass ejections lick into existence, but it can’t be seen from Earth except for during a total solar eclipse. —Shi En Kim, Smithsonian Magazine, 23 Dec. 2024

Yet so far what these two billionaires have achieved is to crush the world’s poorest children in a cauldron of confusion and cruelty. —Nicholas D. Kristof, The Mercury News, 18 Feb. 2025

In another room, LaRocca used both hands to lift the lid from a cauldron that stretched ten feet into the air. —Dhruv Khullar, The New Yorker, 6 Jan. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English caudron, caldron, from Anglo-French cauderon, diminutive of caldere basin, from Late Latin caldaria, from feminine of Latin caldarius used for hot water, from calidus warm, from calēre to be warm — more at lee

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for cauldron

• caldron

Kids Definition

cauldron

noun

caul·​dron

variants also caldron

ˈkȯl-drən

1

: a large kettle

2

: something resembling a boiling cauldron in intensity or degree of agitation

a cauldron of intense emotion

Etymology

Middle English caldron, cauldron "cauldron," from earlier cauderon (same meaning), derived from an early French dialect word caudiere "basin," derived from Latin calidus "warm," from calēre "to be hot" — related to calorie, nonchalant