thunderbolt
Americannoun
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thunderbolts
plural
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a flash of lightning with the accompanying thunder.
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an imaginary bolt or dart conceived as the material destructive agent cast to earth in a flash of lightning.
the thunderbolts of Jove.
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something very destructive, terrible, severe, sudden, or startling.
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a person who acts with fury or with sudden and irresistible force.
noun
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a flash of lightning accompanying thunder
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the imagined agency of destruction produced by a flash of lightning
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(in mythology) the destructive weapon wielded by several gods, esp the Greek god Zeus See also Thor
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something very startling
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of thunderbolt
First recorded in 1400–50, thunderbolt is from late Middle English thondre bolte. See thunder, bolt 1
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:
Cameroon also fell behind, against Mozambique in Agadir, but a thunderbolt from Christian Kofane delivered a 2-1 victory.
From Barron's ● Dec. 31, 2025
That’s why the revision by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of its advisory on vaccines and autism struck like a thunderbolt, and not in a good way.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 25, 2025
While sticking Cillo into a varsity game would attract a thunderbolt of attention, Clark has been waiting for an appropriate moment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2025
The Reds continue to press and Adam Phillips has another thunderbolt blocked in the area before Nicky Cadden's looping cross has to be tipped over the bar by Nathan Baxter.
From BBC ● May 2, 2024
I had to get Zeus’s thunderbolt back to Olympus.
From "The Lightning Thief" by Rick Riordan
Canada’s star was David Winckworth, who made 12 with the bat before sending down a few round-arm thunderbolts of his own, taking four wickets as the Americans were dismissed for 64.
From BBC ● May 29, 2024
During those performances, the music was notably crisp, landing on the grassy landscape like thunderbolts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2024
Some of them resemble branching snowflakes, thunderbolts or neurons, whispering the unique expression of the artist's vision.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 3, 2024
"I think Diana ... will be hurling thunderbolts on coronation day, that's for sure," royal author Tina Brown told Reuters.
From Reuters ● May 6, 2023
The angels rode flying white horses and slashed swords and threw thunderbolts.
From "The Unfinished Angel" by Sharon Creech
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.
