What does Thunderbolt mean?

Definitions for Thunderbolt
ˈθʌn dərˌboʊltthun·der·bolt

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word Thunderbolt.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. thunderbolt, bolt, bolt of lightningnoun

    a discharge of lightning accompanied by thunder

  2. bombshell, thunderbolt, thunderclapnoun

    a shocking surprise

    "news of the attack came like a bombshell"

Wiktionary

  1. thunderboltnoun

    A flash of lightning accompanied by a crash of thunder.

  2. thunderboltnoun

    An event that is terrible, horrific or unexpected.

  3. thunderboltnoun

    A very powerful shot.

  4. thunderboltnoun

    A belemnite, or thunderstone.

  5. Etymology: From thunder + bolt.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Thunderboltnoun

    Etymology: thunder and bolt, as it signifies an arrow.

    If I had a thunderbolt in mine eye, I can tell who should down. William Shakespeare.

    Let the lightning of this thunderbolt, which hath been so severe a punishment to one, be a terrour to all. Charles I .

    My heart does beat,
    As if ’twere forging thunderbolts for Jove. John Denham.

    Who can omit the Gracchi, who declare
    The Scipio’s worth, those thunderbolts of war? Dryden.

    The most remarkable piece in Antonine’s pillar, is Jupiter Pluvius sending down rain on the fainting army of Marcus Aurelius, and thunderbolts on his enemies; which is the greatest confirmation of the story of the Christian legion. Addison.

    He severely threatens such with the thunderbolt of excommunication. George Hakewill, on Providence.

Wikipedia

  1. Thunderbolt

    A thunderbolt or lightning bolt is a symbolic representation of lightning when accompanied by a loud thunderclap. In Indo-European mythology, the thunderbolt was identified with the 'Sky Father'; this association is also found in later Hellenic representations of Zeus and Vedic descriptions of the vajra wielded by the god Indra. It may have been a symbol of cosmic order, as expressed in the fragment from Heraclitus describing "the Thunderbolt that steers the course of all things".In its original usage the word may also have been a description of the consequences of a close approach between two planetary cosmic bodies, as Plato suggested in Timaeus, or, according to Victor Clube, meteors, though this is not currently the case. As a divine manifestation the thunderbolt has been a powerful symbol throughout history, and has appeared in many mythologies. Drawing from this powerful association, the thunderbolt is often found in military symbolism and semiotic representations of electricity.

ChatGPT

  1. thunderbolt

    A thunderbolt is a discharge of lightning accompanied by a loud thunderclap or a symbolic representation of such an event. It is often associated with sudden, unexpected circumstances or shocking revelations. In mythology, it is often depicted as a weapon used by gods and deities.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Thunderboltnoun

    a shaft of lightning; a brilliant stream of electricity passing from one part of the heavens to another, or from the clouds to the earth

  2. Thunderboltnoun

    something resembling lightning in suddenness and effectiveness

  3. Thunderboltnoun

    vehement threatening or censure; especially, ecclesiastical denunciation; fulmination

  4. Thunderboltnoun

    a belemnite, or thunderstone

Wikidata

  1. Thunderbolt

    A thunderbolt is a symbolic representation of incidents of observed lightning when accompanied by a loud thunderclap. In its original usage the word may also have been a description of meteors, or, as Plato suggested in Timaeus, of the consequences of a close approach between two planetary cosmic bodies, though this is not currently the case. As a divine manifestation the thunderbolt has been a powerful symbol throughout history, and has appeared in many mythologies. Drawing from this powerful association, the thunderbolt is often found in military symbolism and semiotic representations of electricity.

Military Dictionary and Gazetteer

  1. thunderbolt

    In heraldry, a bearing borrowed from classical mythology, which may be described as a twisted bar in pale inflamed at each end surmounting two jagged darts in saltire between two wings displayed with streams of fire.

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of Thunderbolt in Chaldean Numerology is: 2

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of Thunderbolt in Pythagorean Numerology is: 4

Examples of Thunderbolt in a Sentence

  1. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:

    Handel understands effect better than any of us -- when he chooses, he strikes like a thunderbolt.

  2. President Barack Obama:

    And then sometimes there are days like this, when that slow, steady effort is rewarded with justice that arrives like a thunderbolt.

  3. John Brown:

    Be mild with the mild, shrewd with the crafty, confiding to the honest, rough to the ruffian, and a thunderbolt to the liar. But in all this, never be unmindful of your own dignity.

  4. Charles Caleb Colton:

    Times of general calamity and confusion create great minds. The purest ore is produced from the hottest furnace, and the brightest thunderbolt is elicited from the darkest storms.

  5. Barack Obama:

    Progress on this journey often comes in small increments, sometimes two steps forward, one step back, and then sometimes, there are days like this when that slow, steady effort is rewarded with justice that arrives like a thunderbolt.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

Thunderbolt#10000#40982#100000

Translations for Thunderbolt

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"Thunderbolt." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 Nov. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/Thunderbolt>.

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