thunderhead
Americannoun
-
the upper portion of a cumulus cloud characterized by dense, sharply defined, cauliflowerlike upper parts and sometimes by great verticality.
noun
Etymology
Origin of thunderhead
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.
Once a prehistoric denizen of the deeps, it comes ashore on a tsunami tide, tall as a thunderhead, shrugging off artillery as it bellows a foghorn scream.
From Scientific American • Nov. 3, 2023
A thunderhead towers above the rising sun, and the picture turns out beautifully.
From Slate • May 11, 2015
Early that morning, a towering thunderhead had rumbled in from the east, stripping branches from the cottonwoods and flooding the streets of Oklahoma City.
From The New Yorker • Dec. 1, 2014
I am often in awe of clouds, as was the case when I shot this video of a remarkable thunderhead somewhere over the Midwest.
From New York Times • Sep. 6, 2011
On the last day of his junior year, exactly two months after his life had burst like a thunderhead, Finn walked home from the bus stop past plants already up to his waist.
From "Bone Gap" by Laura Ruby
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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.