thunder

English Online Dictionary. What means thunder‎? What does thunder mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English thunder, thonder, thundre, thonre, thunnere, þunre, from Old English þunor (“thunder”), from Proto-West Germanic *þunr, from Proto-Germanic *þunraz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ten-, *(s)tenh₂- (“to thunder”).

Compare astound, astonish, stun. Germanic cognates include West Frisian tonger, Dutch donder, German Donner, Old Norse Þórr (English Thor), Danish torden, Norwegian Nynorsk tore. Other cognates include Persian تندر (tondar), Latin tonō, detonō, Ancient Greek στένω (sténō), στενάζω (stenázō), στόνος (stónos), Στέντωρ (Sténtōr), Irish torann, Welsh taran, Gaulish Taranis. Doublet of donner, Thunor, and Thor.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈθʌndə/
• (General American) enPR: thŭn′dər, IPA^(key): /ˈθʌndɚ/
• Rhymes: -ʌndə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: thun‧der

Noun

thunder (countable and uncountable, plural thunders)

1. The loud rumbling, cracking, or crashing sound caused by expansion of rapidly heated air around a lightning bolt.
2. A deep, rumbling noise resembling thunder.

3. An alarming or startling threat or denunciation.
4. (obsolete) The discharge of electricity; a thunderbolt.
5. (literature) Synonym of thunder word

Usage notes

• roll, clap, peal are some of the words used to count thunder e.g. A series of rolls/claps/peals of thunder were heard

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Alemannic German: Thönder
• → Japanese: サンダー (sandā)
• → Tagalog: tanders
• → Tok Pisin: tanda

Translations

See also

• lightning

Verb

thunder (third-person singular simple present thunders, present participle thundering, simple past and past participle thundered)

1. (impersonal) To produce thunder; to sound, rattle, or roar, as a discharge of atmospheric electricity.

2. (intransitive) To make a noise like thunder.

3. (ergative) To (make something) move very fast (with loud noise).
4. (intransitive, transitive) To say (something) with a loud, threatening voice.

5. To produce something with incredible power.

Conjugation

Derived terms

• (to say something with a loud, threatening voice): thunderer
• thundering herd problem

Translations

See also

• thundering

Middle English

Noun

thunder

1. Alternative form of thonder