1A loud rumbling or crashing noise heard after a lightning flash due to the expansion of rapidly heated air.

1. 1.1 A resounding loud deep noise.
   you can hear the thunder of the falls in the distance

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Near the fall, our voices are lost in its thunder, blown away by the cool wind it makes.
   • Was that Anton Karas's haunting zither film score I sensed above the low thunder of water.
   • It is an astonishing sound: not so much the roar of dirty thunder as the luminous thrum of precision engineering yielding to the control of an expert driver.
   • Interspersed with this was the terrifying thunder of planes and the blast of the bombs.
   • We could not talk above the roaring thunder of machines making material.
   • The thunder of the drums rang out around Newbridge town centre on Friday night, sounding the start of Bealtaine, the town s annual arts festival.
   • A faint, high pitched whine grew and began to pulse through the ship, a counterpoint to the deeper thunder of the turbines.

   Synonyms

   rumble, rumbling, boom, booming, roar, roaring, pounding, thud, thudding, thump, thumping, crash, crashing, bang, banging, ring, ringing, grumble, growl, resounding, reverberation, echo

   rumble, boom, roar, blast, pound, thud, thump, bang, ring, grumble, growl, resound, reverberate, echo, beat
2. 1.2 Used in similes and comparisons to refer to an angry facial expression or tone of voice.
   “I am Brother Joachim,” he announced in a voice like thunder

   Example sentencesExamples

   • "Out," he said, his voice sounding like rolling thunder.
   • His mother's voice rang out through the room like cracking thunder.
   • No wonder he looks almost orgasmic as he says in a voice of thunder, ‘I have the powerrrrr!’
   • So, as the righteous thunder continues to rumble from American leaders, the issue of weapons inspections is habitually skewed.
   • Jenny shouted with a voice of thunder that shook the air in a composed earthquake.
   • Her voice was thunder, her breath clouds, her tears rain.
   • Malcolm's voice was like a clap of thunder, startling everyone at the table.
   • The building rang with a tremendous shout, and another, and another, and then it echoed deep loud groans that gathered strength as they swelled out, like angry thunder.
   • With a voice oscillating between organ-like thunder and strangled quietness, Gambon brings out Hamm's terminal desperation.
   • Is he deaf to the unceasing thunder of millions upon millions of voices in the streets of the world declaring peace on war?
   • All I saw were more people, their faces filled with hate, their voices rising to a furious thunder.
   • Hear the thunder in his voice while his tongue is on fire, see him blush with every word - for his heart is a liar.
   • God speaks to you in this book as much as if he came to the top of Sinai and lifted up his voice with thunder…
   • The thunder of angry critics everywhere began to resonate.
3. 1.3dated as exclamation Used to express anger, annoyance, or incredulity.
   none of this did the remotest good, but, by thunder, it kept the union activists feeling good

1Thunder sounds.

1. 1.1 Make a loud, deep resounding noise.
   the motorcycle thundered into life

   the train thundered through the night

   Example sentencesExamples

   • She accepted the crown and the crowd erupted in a loud thundering applause.
   • The train thundered past him, obliterating his view of his past.
   • We ran for the exit, the sound of feet thundering behind us.
   • In this case that's the Midland mainline whose modern bridges sprawl across the canal, blotting out the sky as the occasional train thunders overhead.
   • As Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, ‘What you are stands over you the while and thunders so loud that I cannot hear what you say.’
   • The sound of a thousand horse hooves thundering through the streets resounded through the old building.
   • The noise level recorded reached 65 decibels - the equivalent of a train thundering past.
   • Then up went the window and out went the bundle as the train thundered through the night.
   • She is distracted by the splintering noises thundering in her ears.
   • A sudden flash and a deep rumble thundered across the heaven.
   • The pounding of the feet thunders so loud in the boy's ears that he can't even hear the desperate panting of his own lungs.
   • Sitting track-side we were amazed at the number of passenger and especially freight trains that thundered past.
   • Deep growls and explosions thundered through the air as clouds of black volcanic ash coated the surroundings.
   • He lifts his horn and they all begin to thunder across the plain sounding their calls.
   • ‘Look at that; it's a 66,’ he enthuses as a freight train thunders through.
   • Her temples were throbbing; she could hear her heartbeats thundering against her eardrums.
   • Heart ablaze and head blowing clouds of smoke, the mail train thundered into the platform and ground to a halt.
   • His heartbeat seemed to thunder in his ears with excitement.
   • Our river is well up now, about twice as wide as usual and it is thundering over the weir.
   • The news on the TV screen had a surge of static and a loud noise simultaneously thundered throughout the colony.

   Synonyms

   echo, re-echo, reverberate, ring out, fill the air, boom, peal, rumble
2. 1.2with object Strike powerfully.
   McGwire thundered that one out of the stadium

   Example sentencesExamples

   • But late in the game Mark Calcavecchia thundered a 161-yard eight-iron from rough at the 72nd hole to set up a birdie to tie with Norman and Wayne Grady on 275.
   • Russell shot over in the 61st minute but two minutes later Maurice O'Shea thundered a 35-yard piledriver inches wide.
   • Connor Campbell thundered a 25-yard shot against the bar and substitute Michael Sanderson lashed the rebound into the net.
   • Ashcroft thundered a free-kick from 20 yards against the underside of the bar.
   • From the resulting corner Adam Ackroyd headed the ball to the far post and Adam Reed thundered a header from two yards into the top corner only to see his effort headed off the line.
   • Skipper Casey thundered a massive 35-yard free kick off the underside of the Omagh crossbar and from the rebound it was like the Alamo with Reilly and Hoey both failing to force the ball across the line.
   • Simon Collins, from ten yards, then thundered the rebound on to the underside of the bar before the ball bounced away.
   • Substitute Gary McSwegan thundered a 20-yard drive off the post before arriving seconds later right on cue in the six-yard box turning a low centre past McKenzie.
   • Rovers striker Jon Stead hit the post and thundered another good opportunity over the bar before Jason Euell ran on to a Di Canio flick-on to jab the ball past Friedel.
   • Pool forced a free-kick and Waite thundered a trademark strike in off the bar.
   • Selby were unlucky not to go further in front when Jason Harris thundered a 20-yard shot against the underside of the crossbar.
   • Casey thundered a shot over the bar while Donal Broughan blasted a good free-kick opportunity high and hopelessly wide.
   • Toure, with the entire goal at his mercy, thunders the ball against the bar.
   • Thierry Henry thunders an unstoppable shot into the top corner of the net.
3. 1.3 Speak loudly and forcefully or angrily, especially to denounce or criticize.
   he thundered against the evils of the age

   with direct speech “Sit down!” thundered Morse with immense authority

   Example sentencesExamples

   • ‘George W Bush has failed the test as commander-in-chief,’ he thundered.
   • The male's deep voice thundered in the cavern, and a black pool formed beneath the demons in a large area, and spread outward.
   • The Times thundered against the Scottish aristo and JP who sided with the rowdies.
   • It was from this cathedral that John Knox thundered against the ‘monstrous regiment of women’ in the shape of the beauteous Mary Queen of Scots.
   • ‘This is rubbish,’ the Guardian thunders, ‘as Lord Falconer must know perfectly well.’
   • I thundered, my voice sounding angrier than I had meant it to.
   • From the columns of The Manchester Guardian Lawrence fulminated against the evils of his time; from the pages of The Skilled Labourer the couple thundered against the evils of the past.
   • The emperor's voice thundered angrily through the chamber.
   • No longer could he escape those hands curled up in anger, a loud voice thundering over comforting whispers - his own.
   • The Herald's editorial thundered against the hot-headed motorists who had caused immense danger in Skipton over the Easter holiday.
   • From platforms across Europe orators thundered against Montjuic.
   • ‘You're not going any where,’ she thundered as loudly as a shrivelled up old woman in a wheelchair could, making me stop dead in my tracks.
   • You murdered an innocent man, the Judges thundered, each word a condemnation.
   • Solzhenitsyn, we can reasonably assent to Nabokov's formulation, thundered against vicious cruelty.
   • Pope Innocent thundered angrily in letters, specifically forbidding the Crusaders from attacking Zara.
   • Michaels barked, pounding out crisp sharp words that so thundered with command that even the untrained and deaf would jump to obey.
   • Many Victorian cultural critics thundered that railways dragged deplorable rationalisation and standardisation in their train.
   • Local columnists thundered against the failures of central government in Madrid.
   • An editorial in the Australian thundered against plans for ‘big government’.
   • I'm innocently baffled by the apparent absence of furious debate and thundering editorials on the subject of spycams at 400-yard intervals all over England.

   Synonyms

   protest strongly at, make a protest against, fulminate against, inveigh against, rail against, rage against, declaim against, remonstrate about, expostulate about, make a fuss about, speak out against, express disapproval of

   roar, bellow, bark, yell, shout, bawl, howl, cry, clamour, bay, scream, screech