Meanings
nounthunderstorm (plural thunderstorms)
plural thunderstorms
- A storm consisting of thunder and lightning produced by a cumulonimbus, usually accompanied with heavy rain, wind, and sometimes hail; and in rarer cases sleet, freezing rain, or snow.
I have never believed, as some people do, in omens and forewarnings, for the dramatic things in my life have generally come upon me as suddenly as a tropical thunder-storm.
1936 July, John Buchan, “Lost Gods”, in The Island of Sheep, London: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC, part I (Fosse), page 11Synonyms: t-storm, lightning storm, electrical storm, thunder and lightning
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA storm consisting of thunder and lightning produced by a cumulonimbus, usually accompanied with heavy rain, wind, and sometimes hail; and in rarer cases sleet, freezing rain, or snow.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna storm resulting from strong rising air currents; heavy rain or hail along with thunder and lightning
Similar
electrical stormelectric storm
Broader
Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Afrikaans onweer
- onweerstorm with thunder and lightning
Ancient Greek θύελλα, καταιγίς
- θύελλα (thúella)storm with thunder and lightning
- καταιγίς (kataigís)storm with thunder and lightning
Arabic عَاصِفَة رَعْدِيَّة
- عَاصِفَة رَعْدِيَّة (ʕāṣifa raʕdiyya)storm with thunder and lightning
Bulgarian гръмотевична бу́ря
- гръмотевична бу́ря (grămotevična búrja)storm with thunder and lightning
Catalan tempesta
- tempestastorm with thunder and lightning
Chinese Mandarin 雷暴
- 雷暴 (léibào)storm with thunder and lightning
Czech bouřka
- bouřkastorm with thunder and lightning
Danish tordenvejr
- tordenvejrstorm with thunder and lightning
Dutch onweer
- onweerstorm with thunder and lightning
Esperanto fulmotondro, fulmŝtormo
- fulmotondrostorm with thunder and lightning
- fulmŝtormostorm with thunder and lightning
Estonian äikesetorm, äiksetorm
- äikesetormstorm with thunder and lightning
- äiksetormstorm with thunder and lightning
- äikestorm with thunder and lightning
Finnish ukkonen, ukonilma
- ukkonenstorm with thunder and lightning
- ukonilmastorm with thunder and lightning
- ukkosmyrskystorm with thunder and lightning
French orage
- oragestorm with thunder and lightning
German Gewitter
- Gewitterstorm with thunder and lightning
Greek καταιγίδα
- καταιγίδα (kataigída)storm with thunder and lightning
Hebrew סוּפַת רַעֲמִים
- סוּפַת רַעֲמִיםstorm with thunder and lightning
Hindi आंधी, गरज-चमक
- आंधी (āndhī)storm with thunder and lightning
- गरज-चमक (garaj-camak)storm with thunder and lightning
Hungarian égiháború, zivatar
- égiháborústorm with thunder and lightning
- zivatarstorm with thunder and lightning
Icelandic þrumuveður
- þrumuveðurstorm with thunder and lightning
Indonesian badai petir, badai guntur
- badai petirstorm with thunder and lightning
- badai gunturstorm with thunder and lightning
Irish léidearnach thoirní, spéirling
- léidearnach thoirnístorm with thunder and lightning
- spéirlingstorm with thunder and lightning
- stoirm thoirnístorm with thunder and lightning
Italian temporale
- temporalestorm with thunder and lightning
Japanese 雷雨
- 雷雨 (raiu)storm with thunder and lightning
Korean 뇌우
- 뇌우 (noe'u)storm with thunder and lightning
Latvian negaiss
- negaissstorm with thunder and lightning
Lithuanian perkūnija
- perkūnijastorm with thunder and lightning
Malay ribut petir
- ribut petirstorm with thunder and lightning
Māori pūeaea
- pūeaeastorm with thunder and lightning
Norwegian Bokmål tordenvær
- tordenværstorm with thunder and lightning
Persian طوفان
- طوفان (tufân)storm with thunder and lightning
Polish burza
- burzastorm with thunder and lightning
Portuguese trovoada
- trovoadastorm with thunder and lightning
Romanian furtună
- furtunăstorm with thunder and lightning
Russian гроза́, бу́ря
- гроза́ (grozá)storm with thunder and lightning
- бу́ря (búrja)storm with thunder and lightning
Slovak búrka
- búrkastorm with thunder and lightning
Spanish tormenta, tormenta electrica
- tormentastorm with thunder and lightning
- tormenta electricastorm with thunder and lightning
- tronadastorm with thunder and lightning
Swedish åskväder
- åskväderstorm with thunder and lightning
Thai พายุฝนฟ้าคะนอง, พายุฟ้าคะนอง
- พายุฝนฟ้าคะนอง (paa-yú-fǒn-fáa-ká-nɔɔng)storm with thunder and lightning
- พายุฟ้าคะนอง (paa-yú-fáa-ká-nɔɔng)storm with thunder and lightning
Turkish oraj
- orajstorm with thunder and lightning
Ukrainian гроза́, бу́ря
- гроза́ (hrozá)storm with thunder and lightning
- бу́ря (búrja)storm with thunder and lightning
Urdu آندھی, ژالہ بازی
- آندھی (āndhī)storm with thunder and lightning
- ژالہ بازی (žāla bāzī)storm with thunder and lightning
Vietnamese dông, giông
- dôngstorm with thunder and lightning
- giôngstorm with thunder and lightning
- bão tố có sấm sétstorm with thunder and lightning
Welsh storm fellt a tharannau
- storm fellt a tharannaustorm with thunder and lightning
Zulu ukuduma kwezulu
- ukuduma kwezulustorm with thunder and lightning
Cite this entry
APA
thunderstorm. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thunderstorm
MLA
“thunderstorm.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thunderstorm. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “thunderstorm,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thunderstorm.
Source: thunderstorm on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.