Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A quake of lesser magnitude, usually one of a series, following a large earthquake in the same area.
- n. A further reaction following the shock of a deeply disturbing occurrence or revelation: "The industry continued to reel from aftershocks of a disastrous [year]” ( David Lake).
Wiktionary
- n. An earthquake that follows in the same vicinity as another, usually larger, earthquake (the "mainshock").
- n. figuratively By extension, any result or consequence following a major event.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a tremor (or one of a series of tremors) occurring after the main shock of an earthquake
Examples
“The magnitude 5.8 earthquake that struck Virginia on Tuesday gives new meaning to the word "aftershock.”
“While the city has been plagued by aftershocks since a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck on Sept. 4, today's aftershock is the second-largest to rock the region and has left the city's residents again reeling.”
“The word aftershock makes it kind of seem insignificant.”
“How have religious entrepreneurs responded to the second aftershock, which is pushing people—young people especially—away from religion?”
“The first aftershock was followed by an opposite reaction, a second aftershock, which is still reverberating.”
“There was another quake at 7 a.m. this morning, said Somsri Meethong of the Mae Sai District office, referring to an aftershock.”
“The aftershock was the strongest to hit Haiti since last week's original quake, the USGS said.”
“MYERS: No, they're still possible but a-- we just had a 4.8 aftershock, which is a pretty decent quake in itself, especially when you have now -- you have damaged the buildings and a 4.8 can actually make the damaged building fall.”
“The aftershock was the second-strongest since a record 9- magnitude earthquake and tsunami on March 11.”
“The first aftershock was followed by an opposite reaction, a second aftershock, which is still reverberating.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘aftershock’.
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afters
aftermath, after-tax, aftertaste, afterworld, afterword, after hours, after glow, after-hours, after-shave, after the fact, after-wit, afternoon and 44 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, A
abaculus, abacus, abaft, abarticular, abbreviate, abeyance, abiding, anthocyanin, antemeridian, arcane, adjure, adduce and 418 more...
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Keeping Secrets
Words of 10 letters, all different, can be used for encrypting, pretty securely, such things as PINs and passwords. The fly in the ointment, for me, in keeping track of them is I've got to write '...
lumberjack, birthplace, whiskeybar, vanquished, metaphysic, precaution, quizmaster, dumbwaiter, thumbscrew, blacksmith, wholegrain, wanderlust and 105 more...
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Twitchy
The (not always so) smoovements; scattered, oscillating, jerky, and unpredictable.
palpitation, scravel, jactitate, pounce, wobble, vibrate, undulate, didder, effleurage, flail, ague, swerve and 169 more...
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Foxtrot's list
afternoon delight, almost unreal, full of spark, dazzle n daze, alarming stride, rushing tide, double dagger, in the nude, constant pressure, widow maker, bourbon on the rocks, air fare holme and 311 more...
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Tremors
Earthquake words.
sussultatory, groundswell, aftershock, brasmatias, earth-tilting, earth-tremor, teleseism, seismogram, microseism, tilt, epicenter, tsunami and 51 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for aftershock.
bilby Aftershock is a terrible word when you've just been through an earthquake. 10 letters that keep you awake at night :-( Oct 29, 2009
reesetee Ah, of course. It's not as though the giant word "aftershock" at the top of this page didn't alert me to that fact. :-\
I thought "trembler" was odd, too. I've always heard it called temblor. Apr 8, 2009
bilby Interesting use of trembler in the NYT citation. I've never seen/heard it used this way before. It makes some sense although perhaps there is some (understandable, given the root) conflation with tremor. Apr 8, 2009
Prolagus This article refers to the aftershock. The earthquake that killed all those people was 6.3, as far as I know. Apr 8, 2009
reesetee I'd read yesterday that they measured it at 6.3. Has that been revised? Apr 7, 2009
Prolagus In the early evening Tuesday [today], a particularly strong aftershock sent rescuers and residents fleeing from damaged buildings in L’Aquila as chunks of concrete fell from crumbling buildings, The Associated Press reported. The news service quoted the Italian news agency ANSA saying the trembler killed another person; it reported that the United States Geological Survey said the quake measured 5.6, but Italian seismologists put it at 5.3.
(The New York Times) Apr 7, 2009