fulmine · verb — to thunder or lightning. It carries an Arena rating of 1618, earned across 32 head-to-head judged battles.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, fulmine ranks #737 of 17,163 for Most Sublime Words, #1,074 of 17,166 for Most Vivid Words, #2,710 of 17,187 for Most Malleable Words, #2,840 of 17,180 for Most Ingenious Words.
fulmine is pronounced /ˈfʌlmɪn/.
Why “fulmine” is a great word
FULMINE — [Verb] To flash with lightning or to issue a vehement verbal denunciation. From the French fulminer, from the Latin fulminō ("to lighten, to strike with lightning"), from fulmen ("lightning bolt"). Unlike "fulminate," which has settled into formal censure or chemical explosion, or "thunder," which names the consequential roar, to fulmine is to embody the primal, terrifying act of the strike itself. It is the jagged, purple-white crack that scars the retina in a black sky; the sudden, livid scar left on the trunk of an oak; the precise, incandescent moment a quiet accusation detonates into a public anathema. It is the brief, brilliant violence from which all aftermath flows, and the rare word for when language aspires to the condition of weather.
❧ Essay by Lexicurio’s AI · definition, etymology & citations from published sources
Etymology
Borrowed from French fulminer, from Latin fulminō (“lighten, illuminate”). More at fulminate.
verb
- To thunder or lightning.e.g.“And ever and anone the rosy red
Flasht through her face, as it had been a flake
Of lightning through bright heven fulmined […]” — 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- To utter with authority or vehemence; fulminate.e.g.“She fulmined out her scorn of laws Salique.” — 1847, Alfred Tennyson, “(please specify the page number, or |part=Prologue, I to VII, or conclusion)”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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