thunderbolt
/ˈθʌndə(ɹ)ˌboʊlt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.09 in modern English
17
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
3
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A flash of lightning accompanied by a crash of thunder.
noun
An event that is terrible, horrific or unexpected.
noun
A belemnite, or thunderstone.
noun
A charge in the form of two joined bundles with four rays of lightning emerging from them, resembling the thunderbolt of Jupiter.
noun
A daring or irresistible hero.
Example Sentences
- "Our quiuering Lances ſhaking in the aire, / And bullets like Ioues dreadfull Thunderbolts, / Enrolde in flames and fiery ſmoldering miſtes, / Shall threat the Gods more than Cyclopian warres, […]"
- "And the sword that had visited Earth from so far away smote like the falling of thunderbolts [...] and the runes in Alveric’s far-travelled sword exulted, and roared at the elf-knight; until in the dark of the wood, amongst branches severed from disenchanted trees, with a blow like that of a thunderbolt riving an oak-tree, Alveric slew him."
- "He describes the operation thus: "The heavy ram employed to impart the finishing strokes, hoisted up with double purchase and snail's pace to the summit of the Piling Engine, and then falling down like a thunderbolt on the head of the devoted timber, driving it perhaps a single half inch in to the stratum below, is well calculated to put to the test the virtue of patience, while it illustrates the old adage of—slow and sure.""
- "News of the actress’s death came as a thunderbolt to her fans."
- "the Scipios' worth, those thunderbolts of war"
- "A greater wreck, a deeper fall, / A shock to one—a thunderbolt to all."