fulminate
Americanverb (used without object)
-
fulminates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
fulminated,
past participle, past
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fulminating
present participle
-
to explode with a loud noise; detonate.
-
to issue denunciations or the like (usually followed byagainst ).
The minister fulminated against legalized vice.
verb (used with object)
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fulminates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
fulminated,
past participle, past
-
fulminating
present participle
-
to cause to explode.
-
to issue or pronounce with vehement denunciation, condemnation, or the like.
noun
verb
-
to make criticisms or denunciations; rail
-
to explode with noise and violence
-
archaic (intr) to thunder and lighten
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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fulminationnoun
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fulminatornoun
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fulminatoryadjective
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nonfulminatingadjective
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unfulminatedadjective
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unfulminatingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
fulminatesimple
-
fulminatessimple
-
have fulminatedperfect
-
has fulminatedperfect
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am fulminatingprogressive
-
are fulminatingprogressive
-
is fulminatingprogressive
-
have been fulminatingperfect progressive
-
has been fulminatingperfect progressive
Past
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fulminatedsimple
-
had fulminatedperfect
-
was fulminatingprogressive
-
were fulminatingprogressive
-
had been fulminatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of fulminate
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English fulminaten < Latin fulminātus, past participle of fulmināre “to hurl thunderbolts, thunder,” equivalent to fulmin-, stem of fulmen “thunderbolt, lightning” + -ātus -ate 1
Explanation
Watch a bomb fulminate or explode and hope you're under safe cover. Have your parents fulminate or blow up at you for coming home past curfew and hope you're not grounded for too long. The word fulminate is made up of the Latin root fulmen meaning "lightning flash." Look up at the sky during a violent thunderstorm and chances are you'll catch thunder and lightning fulminate or explode loudly and violently overhead. But you needn't look to the sky alone for this kind of intensity. If you find yourself in a room with passionate Republicans and Democrats debating, you might see them fulminate or severely rail against each other's beliefs.
Vocabulary lists containing fulminate
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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:
Mr. Lanthimos isn’t the type to thunder and fulminate and declare his themes, and the film doesn’t really align with any particular political outlook.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2025
Despite this, Burger showed mercy to Hammond and gracefully accepted his apology, though he continued to fulminate about Beckwith and the Time story.
From Washington Post ● May 2, 2022
Hill says that watching Trump fulminate made her feel like Alice in Wonderland watching the Queen of Hearts, with her constant shouts of “Off with their heads!”
From New York Times ● Oct. 1, 2021
“Amy would fulminate and care deeply about issues,” said one former mayoral aide.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 7, 2021
This flare was communicated to the percussion cap, or fulminate of mercury, at the base of the cartridge.
From Whispering Wires by Henry Leverage
Mr. Vance fulminates: “Never have I read a purer distillation of our worship at the altar of commerce.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
“They are coming, they are coming, they are coming!” he fulminates in a clip the parents’ legal team plays for him during his 2019 deposition, at which he seems unmoved.
From Salon ● Mar. 26, 2024
“But even if money spent now saves money later, so what?” he fulminates.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2021
He records Bonhoeffer’s powerful experiences, for example, at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, where the preacher Adam Clayton Powell fulminates: “Obeying God means challenging injustice! You don’t just think about God. … You act!”
From New York Times ● Oct. 5, 2018
The terrorist organization will tend to emulate the very characteristics of its enemy it fulminates against the most.
From Terrorists and Freedom Fighters by Samuel Vaknin
Ferguson stared deep into the night while, behind him, his coaching staff of Neil McCann, Allan McGregor and Billy Dodds fulminated.
From BBC ● Feb. 26, 2025
For two years, the state quietly investigated the matter while Villanueva fulminated about it at seemingly every opportunity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2024
They fulminated against the notion that affidavits could be submitted after the close of an extradition hearing; it was repugnant to “universally accepted principles of law” for Root even to consider this new evidence.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 13, 2022
Where once the tabloid press fulminated against the prize’s nominees, these days much art world discussion takes place in more specialized publications and on social media.
From New York Times ● Nov. 25, 2021
In an unctuous and impassioned manner he fulminated against all sorts and conditions of transgressors.
From Between Sun and Sand A Tale of an African Desert by W. C. (William Charles) Scully
It is an unusually nuanced take on a subject that too often generates reflexive fulminating or fawning, and a truly auspicious start to the New Museum’s new chapter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026
The episode provides a stark example of the foundation fulminating against forcing people from their homes while pursuing evictions against its own residents.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 16, 2023
Marsan and Kinnear are the two poles of the production, with Kinnear bringing his trademarked thoughtful chill to the fascist frontman and Marsan fulminating entertainingly as the head of the resistance.
From New York Times ● Apr. 29, 2022
First Lady Edith Wilson practically ran the White House, leaving opponents fulminating about "government by petticoat".
From BBC ● Apr. 15, 2019
Fulminā′tion, act of fulminating, thundering, or issuing forth: a chemical explosion: a denunciation.—adjs.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various
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