Meanings
- not comparableThat fulminates.
- especiallynot comparablemedicineAppearing quickly and with destructive effects.
When his liver function was measured, an acute, fulminant hepatitis was discovered.
2010, Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Emperor of All Maladies, Fourth Estate (2011), page 2801 more example
Fulminant hepatitis seems to be more common in females than in males (11).[…]In contrast to common belief, Chalmers (17) has shown that physical exercise during infectious hepatitis does not increase the risk of a fulminant course of disease.
1983, Friedrich Deinhardt, Jean Deinhardt, editors, Viral Hepatitis: Laboratory and Clinical Science, Marcel Dekker, page 296
plural fulminants
- A thunderbolt.
- An explosive.
The excessive danger in handling fulminants was not balanced by any prospective reward.
1893, Lowis Jalkson, Ten Centuries of European Progress, Sampson Low, Marston and Company, page 128
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivesudden and severe
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinfulminō“strike like lightning”
- Frenchfulminant
- Englishfulminant
Borrowed from French fulminant, from Latin fulminō (“strike like lightning”). By surface analysis, fulmin(ate) + -ant or fulmine + -ant.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian скоротечен
- скоротечен (skorotečen)coming on quickly and destructively
Czech geniální, brilantní
- geniálnícoming on quickly and destructively
- brilantnícoming on quickly and destructively
- skvělýcoming on quickly and destructively
French foudroyant
- foudroyantcoming on quickly and destructively
German fulminant
- fulminantcoming on quickly and destructively
Polish piorunujący
- piorunującycoming on quickly and destructively
Spanish fulminante
- fulminantecoming on quickly and destructively
Cite this entry
fulminant. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fulminant
“fulminant.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fulminant. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “fulminant,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fulminant.
Source: fulminant on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.