thud

American  

[thuhd] / θʌd /

noun

• thuds
  plural

1. a dull sound, as of a heavy blow or fall.

2. a blow causing such a sound.

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verb (used without object)

• thuds,
  present (3rd person singular)
• thudded,
  past participle,  past
• thudding
  present participle

1. to strike or fall with a dull sound of heavy impact.

thud British  

/ θʌd /

noun

1. a dull heavy sound

   the book fell to the ground with a thud

2. a blow or fall that causes such a sound

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verb

1. to make or cause to make such a sound

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• thuddingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• thuds
  plural

Participles

• thudding
  present
• thudded
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• thud
  simple
• thuds
  simple
• have thudded
  perfect
• has thudded
  perfect
• am thudding
  progressive
• are thudding
  progressive
• is thudding
  progressive
• have been thudding
  perfect progressive
• has been thudding
  perfect progressive

Past

• thudded
  simple
• had thudded
  perfect
• was thudding
  progressive
• were thudding
  progressive
• had been thudding
  perfect progressive

Future

• will thud
  simple
• will have thudded
  perfect
• will be thudding
  progressive
• will have been thudding
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of thud

1505–15; imitative; compare Middle English thudden, Old English thyddan to strike, press

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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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

thud thuds thudded thudding

An up-and-down week for tech ended with a thud Friday, with the Nasdaq composite off 2.1%.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 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

She never even got to clunk and thud her way through any farmhouses or laboratories like a bewigged bull in a china shop.

From Salon ● Mar. 8, 2026

This one feels like it probably sounded really funny and smart at the table read, but it landed with a thud for the audience because the premise was so muddled.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 1, 2026

Above me the thud and scrape of thirty-plus men shoving barrels of tea around was almost deafening and the interior of the ship had an overpowering musty smell that made my stomach roll a little.

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin

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

Mid-way through the audio, a loud explosion thuds in the background.

From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2023

You constantly hear dull thuds, almost like doors closing.

From New York Times ● May 7, 2023

There was silence in the room, broken only by gentle thuds as Hermione continued to throw books onto one pile or the other.

From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling

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

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

Blackburn began on the front foot but Duane Holmes fluffed the first big chance at the other end, before Arnur Sigurdsson's side-foot volley from a precise Tyrhys Dolan cross thudded against the Preston bar.

From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2023

Bonobos screamed above me, and branches thudded against my back and then my face as I contorted through the fall.

From "Endangered" by Eliot Schrefer

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

But, equipped with a thudding backhand, Andreeva can redirect rallies at will, forcing opponents to go on the defensive, and has good anticipation of their next shot.

From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2025

A barge sounds its outcast horn and coal cars trundle to and fro and the regular thudding of the hauling machine reverberates through the gloom.

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr

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