Thunder

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈθʌn.dÉ™/
• US enPR: thÅ­n'dÉ™r, IPA: /ˈθʌn.dÉš/
• Rhymes: -ÊŒndÉ™(ɹ)

Origin

From Old English þunor, from Proto-Germanic *þunraz, from *þen, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tenh₂- ("to thunder"). Germanic cognates include West Frisian tonger, Dutch donder, German Donner. Other cognates include Persian language تندر, Latin tonō.

Noun

1. The sound caused by the discharge of atmospheric electrical charge.Thunder is preceded by lightning.''
2. A sound resembling thunder.
3. A deep, rumbling noise.Off in the distance, he heard the thunder of hoofbeats, signalling a stampede.
4. An alarming or startling threat or denunciation.
• PrescottThe thunders of the Vatican could no longer strike into the heart of princes.
5. (obsolete) The discharge of electricity; a thunderbolt.
• ShakespeareThe revenging gods
  'Gainst parricides did all their thunders bend.
6. (figuratively) The spotlight.

Usage notes

roll, clap, peal are some of the words used to count thunder.

Derived terms

• thunder and lightning
• thunderation
• thunderbird
• thunderbolt
• thunderboomer
• thunderbox
• thunderclap
• thundercloud
• thunderhead
• thunderous
• thundersquall
• thunderstorm
• thunder thighs

Full definition of thunder

Verb

1. To produce thunder; to sound, rattle, or roar, as a discharge of atmospheric electricity; often used impersonally.It thundered continuously.
2. (intransitive) To make a noise like thunder.The train thundered along the tracks.
3. (intransitive) To talk with a loud, threatening voice."Get back to work at once!", he thundered.
4. (transitive) To say (something) with a loud, threatening voice.
5. To produce something with incredible power
• 2011, January 19, Jonathan Stevenson, Leeds 1 - 3 Arsenal, Just as it appeared Arsenal had taken the sting out of the tie, Johnson produced a moment of outrageous quality, thundering a bullet of a left foot shot out of the blue and into the top left-hand corner of Wojciech Szczesny's net with the Pole grasping at thin air.

Derived terms

• (to say something with a loud, threatening voice) thunderer