lightningnoun [ U ]
uk/ˈlaɪt.nɪŋ/us/ˈlaɪt.nɪŋ/B1 a flash of bright light in the sky that is produced by electricity moving between clouds or from clouds to the ground:
thunder and lightning
a flash/bolt of lightning
That tree was struck by lightning.
She changed her clothes with lightning speed (= extremely quickly).
More examples
- Fractals are used in the study of things like forked lightning and to produce some types of computer graphics.
- The computer failure was due to a glitch caused by lightning.
- The lightning had damaged the plane's instruments, and they weren't giving any readings.
- Have you ever been struck by lightning?
- A special system prevents the circuitry being tripped accidentally by a power surge or lightning strike.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Precipitation: stormy weather
- blow
- blow up
- bolt
- cyclone
- funnel cloud
- gale-force
- hailstorm
- hurricane
- ice storm
- rainstorm
- sheet lightning
- snowstorm
- squall
- stormy
- tempest
- thunder
- thunderbolt
- thundery
- tornado
- typhoon
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Idiom(s)
lightning never strikes twice
like lightning