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# thunder

«thunder» in Mova's school dictionary: **The loud crash or rumbling sound in the sky that comes…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (thunder — uncountable; a clap/roll of thunder); verb (thunder, thunders, thundered, thundering)

### meaning for a pupil

1) The loud crash or rumbling sound in the sky that comes after lightning. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/thunder/#m1)

2) Verb: to make thunder: «It thundered all night». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/thunder/#m2)

3) A very loud noise like thunder: the thunder of hooves. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/thunder/#m3)

4) Verb: to move or speak very loudly: «The train thundered past». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/thunder/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In science: lightning heats the air very fast; the air expands with a bang, which is thunder; sound travels slower than light, so you hear thunder after you see lightning; about 3 seconds between flash and bang means about 1 km away (5 seconds, about 1 mile). In safety: «When thunder roars, go indoors». Phrases: thunder and lightning, a clap of thunder, roll of thunder, thunderstorm, steal someone's thunder, thunderstruck.

### examples

- We heard thunder in the distance. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/thunder/#x1)
- Thunder comes after lightning because sound is slower than light. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/thunder/#x2)
- When thunder roars, go indoors. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/thunder/#x3)
- The dog hides under the bed during thunder. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/thunder/#x4)
- There was a loud clap of thunder. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/thunder/#x5)
- The horses thundered across the field. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/thunder/#x6)
- I counted 9 seconds between the flash and the thunder, so the storm was about 3 km away. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/thunder/#x7)
- Thunderstorms often happen on hot summer days. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/thunder/#x8)

### note

Uncountable: «a clap of thunder», not «a thunder». Thunder itself cannot hurt you; lightning can. In maths: seconds ÷ 3 ≈ kilometres, seconds ÷ 5 ≈ miles to the storm.

### In the corpora

- ["dǎ léi le" means "it's thundering"; in slang "léi rén" means shocking or cringe.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/20-weather-and-what-granny-says-to-wear/13/)
- [Lightning is a giant electric spark; thunder is the sound of the air around it heated so fast that it bursts outward.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/15-weather-signs/1/)
- [Today experts say even more simply: when thunder roars, go indoors.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/15-weather-signs/4/)
- [Thunder is the sound of air suddenly heated by lightning and expanding very fast.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/15-weather-signs/10/)
- [If thunder comes 30 seconds or less after a flash, go inside a building or a hard-topped car.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/15-weather-signs/13/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «thunder» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/thunder/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.
