thunder.
The loud rumbling, cracking, or crashing sound caused by expansion of rapidly heated air around a lightning bolt.
Meaning & usage
The loud rumbling, cracking, or crashing sound caused by expansion of rapidly heated air around a lightning bolt.
Thunder is preceded by lightning.
Thunder cracked overhead.
A deep, rumbling noise resembling thunder.
Off in the distance, he heard the thunder of hoofbeats, signalling a stampede.
An alarming or startling threat or denunciation.
The discharge of electricity; a thunderbolt.
Synonym of thunder word.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English thunder, thonder, thundre, thonre, thunnere, þunre, from Old English þunor (“thunder”), from Proto-West Germanic *þunr, from Proto-Germanic *þunraz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ten-, *(s)tenh₂- (“to thunder”). Compare astound, astonish, stun. Germanic cognates include West Frisian tonger, Dutch donder, German Donner, Old Norse Þórr (English Thor), Danish torden, Norwegian Nynorsk tore. Other cognates include Persian تندر (tondar), Latin tonō, detonō, Ancient Greek στένω (sténō), στενάζω (stenázō), στόνος (stónos), Στέντωρ (Sténtōr), Irish torann, Welsh taran, Gaulish Taranis. Doublet of donner, Thunor, and Thor.
To produce thunder; to sound, rattle, or roar, as a discharge of atmospheric electricity.
It thundered continuously.
To make a noise like thunder.
The train thundered along the tracks.
To (make something) move very fast (with loud noise).
To say (something) with a loud, threatening voice.
"Get back to work at once!", he thundered.
To produce something with incredible power.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English thundren, from Old English þunrian (“to thunder”), from Proto-West Germanic *þunrōn, from Proto-Germanic *þunrōną (“to thunder”).
Try it on your idea.
thunder has 7 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.
These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.
Explore the name generatorA word with a source.
Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.