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

Example Sentences

"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

This fell on the province with the power and rapidity of a thunderstroke; it made no cry, no movement; Bretagne expired.

From The Regent's Daughter by Dumas père, Alexandre

Every word was a thunderstroke to his heart.

From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume 2 Historical, Traditional, and Imaginative by Wilson, John Mackay

These words fell upon Charlotte like a thunderstroke: she rose from her seat half-fainting, and unconscious of what she did.

From The Sorrows of Young Werther by Boylan, R. Dillon

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 Lampman, Archibald