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Synonyms

thunderhead

American  
[thuhn-der-hed] / ˈθʌn dərˌhɛd /

noun

Meteorology.
  1. incus.

  2. cumulonimbus.

  3. the upper portion of a cumulus cloud characterized by dense, sharply defined, cauliflowerlike upper parts and sometimes by great verticality.


thunderhead British  
/ ˈθʌndəˌhɛd /

noun

  1. the anvil-shaped top of a cumulonimbus cloud

"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

Etymology

Origin of thunderhead

An Americanism dating back to 1850–55; thunder + head


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:

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

Last Wednesday, though, conditions led to the creation of a larger, taller cloud called a pyrocumulonimbus, which is similar to a thunderhead.

From New York Times ● Jul. 19, 2021

A thunderhead towers above the rising sun, and the picture turns out beautifully.

From Slate ● May 11, 2015

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

Cal looked over his shoulder at a thunderhead sailing blackly over the mountains on the nervous March wind.

From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck

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