# thunder

Pronunciation: US say "THUN-der" /ˈθʌndɚ/; UK say "THUN-duh" /ˈθʌndə/

## Noun

1. The loud rumbling, cracking or crashing sound made when the air around a lightning bolt is rapidly heated and expands.
   - Simple: The loud rumbling or cracking sound that lightning makes in a storm.
   - _A clap of thunder rattled the windows just as the power went out._
   - _Thunder rumbled over the hills for an hour before the first drops of rain fell._
3. A deep, rumbling noise that sounds like thunder.
   - Simple: A deep, loud rumbling sound, like the noise of a storm.
   - _The thunder of the waterfall drowned out our voices long before we could see it._
   - _Above the thunder of hooves, the rider shouted for the herd to turn._
7. A threat or denunciation that alarms or startles people.
   - Simple: A frightening warning or angry attack in words that shocks people.
   - _Despite the thunders of the church, the king went ahead with the marriage._
   - _The editor's weekly thunder against the city council kept officials on edge._

## Verb

2. To make a loud, deep noise that sounds like thunder.
   - Simple: To make a very loud, deep sound, like a storm.
   - _Cannons thundered from the fort all through the night._
   - _The engines thunder so loudly that the ground crew wears ear protection._
4. To move, or cause something to move, with great speed or force, often making a loud noise.
   - Simple: To move very fast, or send or hit something with great force, often with a loud noise.
   - _Every night, freight trains thunder through the little station without even slowing down._
   - _The jockey thundered his horse down the final stretch to win by a length._
5. To speak, or say something, in a loud and threatening voice.
   - Simple: To speak or say something in a loud voice that sounds like a threat.
   - _"Not one more word," the judge thundered from the bench._
   - _Preachers in the town would thunder against gambling every Sunday._
6. Used with it as the subject: to produce thunder, the roaring or rattling sound of a discharge of atmospheric electricity.
   - Simple: To make the loud sound that comes with lightning in a storm.
   - _It began to thunder just as the umpire called the players off the field._
   - _It had been thundering in the mountains since noon, and the river was rising._

## Noun

8. A discharge of electricity from the sky; a thunderbolt. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A bolt of lightning, also called a thunderbolt.

## Other meanings

- (noun) One of the very long coined words in Finnegans Wake, also called a thunder word.

## Origin

From Middle English thunder (also thonder, þunre), from Old English þunor ('thunder'), from Proto-Germanic *þunraz and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ten- ('to thunder'). Its relatives include German Donner, Dutch donder, Old Norse Þórr (the god Thor) and Latin tonō; compare English astound, astonish and stun.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/thunder (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).