different between thunder vs lighten

English

Etymology

From Middle English thunder, thonder, thundre, thonre, thunnere, þunre, from Old English þunor (“thunder”), from Proto-West Germanic *þunr, from Proto-Germanic *þunraz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ten-, *(s)tenh?- (“to thunder”).

Compare astound, astonish, stun. Germanic cognates include West Frisian tonger, Dutch donder, German Donner, Old Norse Þórr (English Thor), Danish torden, Norwegian Nynorsk tore. Other cognates include Persian ????? (tondar), Latin ton?, deton?, Ancient Greek ????? (stén?), ??????? (stenáz?), ?????? (stónos), ??????? (Stént?r), Irish torann, Welsh taran, Gaulish Taranis. Doublet of donner.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???nd?/
• (General American) enPR: th?n?d?r, IPA^(key): /???nd?/
• Rhymes: -?nd?(?)
• Hyphenation: thun?der

Noun

thunder (countable and uncountable, plural thunders)

1. The loud rumbling, cracking, or crashing sound caused by expansion of rapidly heated air around a lightning bolt.

2. A deep, rumbling noise resembling thunder.

3. An alarming or startling threat or denunciation.
   • 1847, William H. Prescott, A History of the Conquest of Peru

     The thunders of the Vatican could no longer strike into the heart of princes.

4. (obsolete) The discharge of electricity; a thunderbolt.
5. (figuratively) The spotlight.

Usage notes

• roll, clap, peal are some of the words used to count thunder e.g. A series of rolls/claps/peals of thunder were heard

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• lightning

Descendants

• Tagalog: tanda

Verb

thunder (third-person singular simple present thunders, present participle thundering, simple past and past participle thundered)

1. To produce thunder; to sound, rattle, or roar, as a discharge of atmospheric electricity; often used impersonally.

2. (intransitive) To make a noise like thunder.

3. (intransitive) To talk with a loud, threatening voice.
4. (transitive) To say (something) with a loud, threatening voice.

5. To produce something with incredible power

Conjugation

Derived terms

• (to say something with a loud, threatening voice): thunderer

Translations

See also

• thundering

Middle English

Noun

thunder

1. Alternative form of thonder

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?la?.t?n/
• Rhymes: -a?t?n

Etymology 1

From Middle English lightnen, equivalent to light +? -en.

Verb

lighten (third-person singular simple present lightens, present participle lightening, simple past and past participle lightened)

1. (transitive) To make brighter or clearer; to illuminate.
   • 1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis, London: Henry Herringman, stanza 231, p. 59,^[1]

     A Key of fire ran all along the shore,

     And lighten’d all the river with the blaze:

2. (intransitive) To become brighter or clearer; to brighten.
3. (intransitive, archaic) To burst forth or dart, as lightning; to shine with, or like, lightning; to flash.
   • 1595, George Peele, The Old Wives’ Tale, The Malone Society Reprints, 1908, line 500,^[2]

     Enter the Conjurer; it lightens and thunders […]

   • c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act I, Scene 3,^[3]

     […] this dreadful night,

     That thunders, lightens, opens graves, and roars

     As doth the lion.

4. (transitive) To emit or disclose in, or as if in, lightning; to flash out, like lightning.
   • c. 1595, William Shakespeare, Richard II, Act III, Scene 3,^[4]

     […] behold his eye,

     As bright as is the eagle’s, lightens forth

     Controlling majesty:

5. To illuminate with knowledge; to enlighten.
   • 1599, John Davies, “Of the Soule of man, and the immortalitie thereof” in Nosce Teipsum. This Oracle Expounded in Two Elegies, London: John Standish, p. 10,^[5]

     O Light which mak’st the Light, which makes the Day,

     Which setst the Eye without and Mind within,

     Lighten my spirit with one cleare heavenly ray,

     Which now to view it selfe doth first begin.

Conjugation

Derived terms

• lighten up

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English lightnen, equivalent to light +? -en.

Verb

lighten (third-person singular simple present lightens, present participle lightening, simple past and past participle lightened)

1. (transitive) To alleviate; to reduce the burden of.

2. (transitive) To make light or lighter in weight.
3. (transitive) To make less serious or more cheerful.
   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Psalms 34:5,^[6]

     They looked unto him, were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.

4. (intransitive) To become light or lighter in weight.
5. (intransitive) To become less serious or more cheerful.

Conjugation

Derived terms

• lighten up

Translations

Etymology 3

From light +? -en.

Verb

lighten (third-person singular simple present lightens, present participle lightening, simple past and past participle lightened)

1. To descend; to light.
   • Book of Common Prayer

     O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us.

Related terms

• alight

Anagrams

• enlight, lething