rumbling
AmericanEtymology
Origin of rumbling
Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at rumble, -ing 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.
Its internal speaker plays a rumbling soundtrack that sends the drumsticks attached to the instrument flittering, giving the sense of a ghostly presence tapping out a brooding dirge.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 14, 2026
We barely notice the beginning of the performance—a low, rumbling drone accompanies our arrival in the theater, and the actual music begins before the lights fully dim.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 24, 2026
The plant houses 14 rumbling pumps in two football-field sized wings and is one of the most powerful water lifting systems in the world.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 20, 2026
Thousands of metres beneath the ground, amid suffocating heat, lies one of the keys to Poland's rumbling mining sector -- and the world economy.
From Barron's • Apr. 3, 2026
More rumbling, more cracks beneath them, more rocks from above.
From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack
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.
