thunderstroke

American  

[thuhn-der-strohk] / ˈθʌn dərˌstroʊk /

noun

1. a stroke of lightning accompanied by thunder.

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Etymology

Origin of thunderstroke

First recorded in 1580–90; thunder + stroke ¹

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

thunderstroke

"It is one of the mysteries of nature," he said in 1906, after his favorite daughter Susy died of meningitis at 24, "that a man, all unprepared, can receive a thunderstroke like that and live."

From Time Magazine Archive

Tempest and thunderstroke, With whirlwinds dipped in midnight at the core, Have torn strange furrows through your forest cloak, And made your hollow gorges clash and roar, And scarred your brows in vain.

From Alcyone by Archibald Lampman

This was a thunderstroke to the unfortunate cavalier.

From The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism. Volume 3 by Frederick Whymper

The child did not bow under this sudden blow of fate, which seemed to put an end to his existence ere it had well begun; he received the thunderstroke standing.

From The Man Who Laughs by Victor Hugo

My father was then in the zenith of his prosperity, and was absorbed in his affairs; yet this loss—this heavy blow—came upon him like a thunderstroke.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 54, No. 335, September 1843 by Various

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