fulminate
/ˈfʌlmɪneɪt/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 1.81 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
to act as lightning, appearing quickly and destructively
Example Sentences
- "In short, the criticism which the great lexicographer fulminated against an unfortunate author, seems to have been adopted by the profession as applicable to everything under the sun […]"
- "To be sure, Trump has fulminated on Twitter against the judges who rebuffed him. But his tirades have earned him a reprimand––if a brief, vague one––from his own Supreme Court nominee."
- "They fulminated the most hostile of all decrees."
- "While they were the opposition, Democrats fulminated that the Republicans were so deep in the pockets of Big Pharma that they wouldn’t even let the government negotiate lower drug prices."
- "the present owners couldn't afford the electric bills anymore, several amateur gaffers, sad to say, having already been fulminated trying to bootleg power in off the municipal lines."
- "On 19 February a jubilant Bigeard announced that his 3rd R.P.C. had seized eighty-seven bombs, seventy kilos of explosive, 5,120 fulminate of mercury detonators, 309 electric detonators, etc."
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English fulminaten, borrowed from Latin fulminātus, perfect passive participle of fulminō (“to lighten, hurl or strike with lightning”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from fulmen (“lightning which strikes and sets on fire, thunderbolt”), from earlier *fulgmen, *fulgimen, from fulgeō, fulgō (“flash, lighten”). Doublet of fulmine. More at fulgent.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: fulminaten, fulminātus
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈfʌlmɪneɪt/
- British English: /ˈfʌlmɪneɪt/