Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A single sharp crash of thunder.
- n. Something, such as a startling or shocking piece of news, that is similar to a crash of thunder in suddenness or violence.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A clap or burst of thunder; a sudden report of a discharge of atmospheric electricity; a thunder-peal.
Wiktionary
- n. sudden thunder; a shock of thunder, as opposed to reverberating rumble
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A sharp burst of thunder; a sudden report of a discharge of atmospheric electricity.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a single sharp crash of thunder
- n. a shocking surprise
Etymologies
- thunder + clap (Wiktionary)
Examples
“I think the thunderclap was the collapse of the Gate he came through.”
“And the thunderclap that opens the fourth movement didn't quite come off, in part because there wasn't a lot of dynamic contrast from one movement to another, and in part because the chord wasn't quite together.”
The Washington Post: The National Symphony Orchestra audience directs its attention to Eschenbach
“Sudden and decisive, like a thunderclap followed by a great rain that just kept going until it flooded the room with the collective approval of every person in the audience.”
“The phrase comes as a thunderclap and, without exculpating the soldiers, implies the failure lay with politicans who prosecuted a war without regard for consequences.”
“There was another thunderclap, close enough to make the ground shake this time.”
“There was the abrupt thunderclap of the engine turning over, the screech of the front end as the car wheeled round, pale miniature hands fluttering their goodbyes out the open window, and then, finally, silence.”
“Toward the end of How Great Thou Art, a thunderclap outside the tent brought a few laughs, but Thomas 'ending won a standing ovation.”
“They do always let me know that a storm is coming before I hear the first thunderclap.”
“And like a thunderclap, when you think back on its arrival, you realize you saw it coming for a long time - a short journey of Jorge and Sybille makes for a perfectly executed story, a tight little package of character, theme, style.”
Robert Silverberg's "The World Inside": Overpopulation, Sex and Sensibility
“The ending of Born With The Dead comes almost too soon, but when it does come it arrives like a thunderclap.”
Robert Silverberg's "The World Inside": Overpopulation, Sex and Sensibility
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘thunderclap’.
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Mandles, Candles for Men
candles with a "manly" scent
a1 steak sauce, baseball glove, grillin' out, campfire, pigskin, bowling alley, musty locker room, chuck norris sweat, urinal deodorizer, bait shop, wet dog, hardware store and 210 more...
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LIT - Iliad - key words and protagonists
depict, delegation, daughter, Dardanus, Dardanian, Dardan, Hellespont, cupbearer, Crete, Cretan, Creon, copulate and 713 more...
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Thunderbolts and Lightning
Very, very frightening.
If you're looking for a list that's just thunderous, see thunder--1.thunderbolt, thunderbolts and ..., lightning, thunderclap headache, thunderclap, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Lightning Strikin..., lightning never s..., lightning rod, lightning conductor, paratonnerre, lightning arrester and 10 more...
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Sounds
Shhh! Listen! Did you hear that?
tintinnabulous, susurration, ululation, pandemonium, keening, tinkle, clang, caterwaul, twangle, twank, din, rumble and 34 more...
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Words of Whimsy & Grace
abecedary, addendum, ampersand, anachronism, avuncular, balderdash, barnacle, befuddle, behemoth, bejeebers, blabbermouth, blatherskite and 465 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, T
torquate, thalassocracy, toothsome, travois, tempestuous, tone, tincture, tripwire, tether, trill, tenacious, travesty and 355 more...
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Favourites
wither, pallid, evanescent, enamour, discovery, smoky, tempest, pantheon, fatuous, revenant, aquatic, escapist and 92 more...
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Vocabulary
My ever expanding vocabulary...
feuterer, abattoir, kibosh, sequin, shiftless, scrimshanker, sic, moniker, dogsbody, contranym, autoantonym, exhortation and 306 more...
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Wild Weather
anabatic wind, stratiform, fractostratus, frazil slush, isodrosotherm, mammatus clouds, macroburst, nimbostratus, ribbon lightning, staccato lightning, subtropical jet, suction vortex and 76 more...
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lovely words
talon, flightless, feathered, coral, innocence, breathing, golden, scent, crinkle, colors, flushed, seamist and 57 more...
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Discordial
Annoying, loud, or awful sounds.
portamento, scroop, clangor, plangent, stentorian, hubbub, cacophony, burble, guggle, donder, sough, racket and 82 more...
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rduke's Words
misguggle, ken, sere, etiolated, gelid, digladiate, popinjay, bathykolpian, conglaciation, hyperborean, callipygian, vagile and 1253 more...
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Scriptie: Miller's Crossing
By the Coen brothers, 1990.
ethics, high hat, schnook, elves, schmatta, the fix, guinea, on the nose, greengrocer, bookie, protection money, rumpus and 80 more...
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Blazes_Boylan's list
I have a thing for monosyllabic words. They're easy to say and, unlike those sesquipedalian words, you can plug them into a sentence without disrupting the rhythm. I also happen to like two and thr...
sluice, turgid, slough, cromulent, trudge, vacuous, crux, fisticuff, vapid, tepid, latch, micturate and 37 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for thunderclap.
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