jolt
Americanverb (used with object)
-
jolts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
jolted,
past participle, past
-
jolting
present participle
-
to jar, shake, or cause to move by or as if by a sudden rough thrust; shake up roughly.
The bus jolted its passengers as it went down the rocky road.
-
to knock sharply so as to dislodge.
He jolted the nail free with a stone.
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to stun with a blow, especially in boxing.
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to shock emotionally or psychologically.
His sudden death jolted us all.
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to bring to a desired state sharply or abruptly.
to jolt a person into awareness.
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to make active or alert, as by using an abrupt, sharp, or rough manner.
to jolt someone's memory.
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to interfere with or intrude upon, especially in a rough or crude manner; interrupt disturbingly.
verb (used without object)
-
jolts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
jolted,
past participle, past
-
jolting
present participle
noun
-
jolts
plural
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a jolting shock, movement, or blow.
The automobile gave a sudden jolt.
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an emotional or psychological shock.
The news of his arrest gave me quite a jolt.
-
something that causes such a shock.
The news was a jolt to me.
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a sudden, unexpected rejection or defeat.
Their policy got a rude jolt from the widespread opposition.
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Slang. a prison sentence.
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Slang. an injection of a narcotic.
-
a bracing dose of something.
a jolt of whiskey; a jolt of fresh air.
verb
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to bump against with a jarring blow; jostle
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to move in a jolting manner
-
to surprise or shock
noun
-
a sudden jar or blow
-
an emotional shock
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
joltsimple
-
joltssimple
-
have joltedperfect
-
has joltedperfect
-
am joltingprogressive
-
are joltingprogressive
-
is joltingprogressive
-
have been joltingperfect progressive
-
has been joltingperfect progressive
Past
-
joltedsimple
-
had joltedperfect
-
was joltingprogressive
-
were joltingprogressive
-
had been joltingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of jolt
1590–1600; blend of jot to jolt and joll to bump, both now dial.
Explanation
To jolt someone is to disturb them or make them jump. A jolt is sudden and jarring. Jolting disturbs or surprises people. If you surprise someone and they jump up a little, you jolted them. Alarm clocks jolt people out of sleep. A sudden crack of thunder could provide a jolt. The unexpected barking of a dog could jolt you. Jolting is quick and not very pleasant. A jolt jars and stuns you. Some jolts are more serious: crashing your car jolts the people in the car violently.
Vocabulary lists containing jolt
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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:
Stacked on top of long-term human-caused climate change, the temporary jolt will offer a glimpse of the heat the world can expect by the late 2030s, experts say.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
It was the latest jolt to South Korea’s confidence in an alliance that has formed a cornerstone of Washington’s defense strategy in Asia since the end of World War II.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
Pochettino brought a jolt of excitement when he was first hired.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
But Ogata has "never experienced this big of a jolt".
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
Just a whole bunch of anonymous New Yorkers lining up for their jolt of caffeine.
From "What If It's Us" by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
"All I could do was hold the chair I was sitting in as big jolts came one after another," she added, appearing to still be in shock.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
The archipelago, home to around 125 million people, typically experiences hundreds of jolts every year and accounts for about 18 percent of the world's earthquakes.
From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026
Battery-storage systems are seen as a key piece of the energy puzzle as demand from artificial intelligence jolts the power business.
From MarketWatch ● May 22, 2026
Pacific Electric is an ambitious entry into a Los Angeles venue landscape recovering from economic woes, yet has seen jolts of life.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 13, 2026
Mom jolts her head back like this is the most exciting information she's ever heard for the fifth time.
From "Starfish" by Akemi Dawn Bowman
The repeated heatwaves and wildfires have jolted the public into reflection on the reality of climate change.
From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026
Hundreds of aftershocks have jolted southern Philippines after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake left dozens of people dead and hundreds more injured.
From BBC ● Jun. 9, 2026
China jolted the world with its willingness to use its extensive control of the rare-earth supply chain to extract concessions from the U.S. and punish countries such as Japan.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026
Buffalo-based Benz was jolted from her couch by a call from an unknown number.
From Barron's ● Jun. 3, 2026
She kept her grip, barely, as it jolted to a stop, but other desks around it were moving, and the cabinet above started to tilt.
From "Time Bomb" by Joelle Charbonneau
I’d run my fingers across the convex pyramid textures in the same way other people lay under a weighted blanket or ate sour candy, jolting my subconscious back into the here and now.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
The outage at QatarEnergy, the world’s largest LNG exporter, has in turn knocked offline the No. 1 global supplier of helium, while blunting regional fertilizer exports and jolting aluminum production.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 1, 2026
This spiritual sequel to “Frankenstein” is a romantic tale of obsession, possession and fantasy — adjectives that also apply to its filmmaker, Maggie Gyllenhaal, who expends massive quantities of energy jolting it to life.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 4, 2026
Women ride past on donkey carts, piled high with vegetables, jolting over potholes deep enough to trap a wheel.
From Barron's ● Feb. 18, 2026
“El chupacabras?” she asked, jolting up to a sitting position.
From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall
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.
