thud
Americannoun
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thuds
plural
-
a dull sound, as of a heavy blow or fall.
-
a blow causing such a sound.
verb (used without object)
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thuds,
present (3rd person singular)
-
thudded,
past participle, past
-
thudding
present participle
noun
-
a dull heavy sound
the book fell to the ground with a thud
-
a blow or fall that causes such a sound
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
thudsimple
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thudssimple
-
have thuddedperfect
-
has thuddedperfect
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am thuddingprogressive
-
are thuddingprogressive
-
is thuddingprogressive
-
have been thuddingperfect progressive
-
has been thuddingperfect progressive
Past
-
thuddedsimple
-
had thuddedperfect
-
was thuddingprogressive
-
were thuddingprogressive
-
had been thuddingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of thud
1505–15; imitative; compare Middle English thudden, Old English thyddan to strike, press
Explanation
To thud is to make the loud sound of something heavy hitting or falling. Tip your chair too far back and your body may thud against the floor. Throw an egg off a balcony onto the pavement below, and it will splat, but throw a heavy dumbbell off the same balcony and it will thud — you can call the sound it makes a thud as well. The verb originally meant "to strike, stab, or thrust," from the Old English imitative word þyddan, and the noun was used to mean "blast of wind" in the early sixteenth century.
Vocabulary lists containing thud
"The Pedestrian" by Ray Bradbury
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Shiloh
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The Subtle Knife
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The follow-up to the brilliant “Tattoo You” landed with a thud.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
Passenger Jose Cervantes told an affiliate of the BBC's US partner CBS that he heard a thud and then "I just see the right wing just on fire and like, it's exploding".
From BBC ● May 9, 2026
Many solid aerospace and defense earnings landed with a thud, with investors worried about the sector outlook amid rising energy prices.
From Barron's ● May 4, 2026
The discrepancy makes for a uniquely unnerving experience, especially in a theater with a decent sound system, where every unexpected thud can feel like it’s creeping in closer and closer.
From Salon ● Mar. 15, 2026
Marco and Cook were thrown out like rag dolls and the boat smashed back into the sea with a massive thud.
From "The Boy Who Met a Whale" by Nizrana Farook
Within about 10 minutes, the loud thuds of strikes followed, one after another, though it was unclear where they landed.
From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026
He has since returned to training at his Tokyo stable, where the bone-crunching thuds of wrestlers colliding echoes around the walls six mornings a week.
From Barron's ● Feb. 4, 2026
Tom has reached an age when he can no longer get around the house without an accompaniment of creaks and groans and thuds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 26, 2025
Over the course of four decades, Oscar-winning sound designer Richard King has accumulated a library of tens of thousands of thuds, thwacks, clacks and other original recordings, yet he’s still always searching for something new.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 13, 2024
We could hear the rhythmic thuds of the students practicing their petit jetés and changements.
From "The Sea in Winter" by Christine Day
It turned out to be a moot point when the new results thudded into my inbox: I scored a 666 ng/dL, right in the normal range.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026
Sixty-six-year-old Jose Pena hid in the bushes as two Ecuadoran military helicopters thudded overhead.
From Barron's ● Mar. 20, 2026
Tee shots were thudded into the big screen from a distance of 35 yards with the action switching to the short-game complex once the ball was within 50 yards of the hole.
From BBC ● Jan. 8, 2025
The theater literally thudded with the sound of high heels as attendees flooded out while Mohammed offered his own housekeeping notes, including a directive to “vacate in height order” in case of emergency.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 18, 2024
For a second my heart thudded in my chest like the war drums in the Ridge.
From "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky" by Kwame Mbalia
The propulsive groove on “Another Life” evokes a thudding drum break pulled from a dusty groove pressed in the early ’70s, as Ms. Howard sings forcefully, moving between a curling falsetto and a feral howl.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
Williams had no problem approaching the devastating service speed of her glory days, thudding down one unreturnable delivery that reached 120mph late in the first set.
From Barron's ● Jun. 9, 2026
In “1984,” Big Brother survives by wielding absolute power; freedom is flattened by the thudding steps of a goose-stepping soldier and by language that makes those steps seem necessary.
From Salon ● Nov. 8, 2025
Neo-soul lyrics call out a toxic man as a thudding baseline hits.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2025
Boots tromped by outside the cage, heavy and thudding, as if the wights sought to punish the very ground they walked upon.
From "Hollow City" by Ransom Riggs
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
