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
Like a thunderhead, the huge cloud spawned lightning strikes, worrying firefighters because of their potential to start new fires.
From New York Times ● Jul. 19, 2021
If the pilot of QZ5801 saw a massive thunderhead dead ahead, and was concerned enough to request a change in his flight path, then maybe he should have gone ahead and diverted, even without permission.
From Slate ● Dec. 29, 2014
A black grand piano hulked on one side, the heavy, distended ceiling bearing down on it ominously, like a thunderhead.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 17, 2014
Her back was thunderhead blue, her rose-tinted breast had the brightness of cloud tops.
From "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
