Synonyms

lightning conductor

British

noun

a metal strip terminating in a series of sharp points, attached to the highest part of a building, etc, to discharge the electric field before it can reach a dangerous level and cause a lightning strike

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

We are also about to find out what happens when the lightning conductor is removed from a building and it remains stormy.

From BBC • Feb. 9, 2026

On internet chatrooms and in online debates, he is a ubiquitous reference point, a lightning conductor in many contemporary social and intellectual disagreements.

From The Guardian • Feb. 16, 2019

You hear of microphones being hit by lightning; and the scaffolding around the stage is basically a lightning conductor.

From BBC • May 22, 2018

Kennedy’s firsthand experience of visceral hunger in America ran as a lightning conductor through his run for the White House.

From The Guardian • Apr. 21, 2018

Sir—" he turned again to Elmer Wiggins who was apparently the lightning conductor for the Colonel's fourteen years of pent-up injury—"a father has his feelings.

From Flamsted quarries by Nelson, G. Patrick

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023