different between thunderbolt vs thunderclap

English

Etymology

From thunder +? bolt.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???nd?(?)?bo?lt/

Noun

thunderbolt (plural thunderbolts)

1. A flash of lightning accompanied by a crash of thunder.
2. (figuratively) An event that is terrible, horrific or unexpected.

   • the Scipios' worth, those thunderbolts of war

3. Vehement threatening or censure; especially, ecclesiastical denunciation; fulmination.
   • 1627, George Hakewill, Apologie […] of the Power and Providence of God

     a thunder-bolt of warre Striking all Nations

4. (soccer) A very powerful shot.
5. (paleontology) A belemnite, or thunderstone.
6. (heraldry) A charge in the form of two joined bundles with four rays of lightning emerging from them, resembling the thunderbolt of Jupiter.
7. A daring or irresistible hero.

Derived terms

• thunderbolt beetle

Translations

See also

• thunderclap
• thunderstroke

English

Etymology

thunder +? clap

Noun

thunderclap (plural thunderclaps)

1. A sudden, loud thunder caused by a nearby lightning strike; a shock of thunder, as opposed to a reverberating rumble
   • 1685, John Dryden, Threnodia Augustalis

Related terms

• thunderbolt
• thunderous

Translations

Verb

thunderclap (third-person singular simple present thunderclaps, present participle thunderclapping, simple past and past participle thunderclapped)

1. (intransitive) To produce a loud burst of sound like a thunderclap.
   • 2000, Arelo C. Sederberg, Zora (page 309)

     It struck just before dark, a massive black geyser of oil and gas that thunderclapped from the well, soaring a hundred feet into the air and then even higher, […]

   • 2003, Kathryn Shay, Against the Odds (page 118)

     So many sensations — the feel of his strong fingers gripping her shoulders, his heart thunderclapping in his chest, his legs and hips aligned with hers, as if the two of them had been fashioned out of the same block of clay.

See also

• rounce robble hobble
• rumble