Mark Singer
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Lightning strikes more than once in the history of fulminate. That word comes from the Latin fulminare, meaning "to strike," a verb usually used to refer to lightning strikes—it is struck from fulmen, Latin for "lightning." When fulminate was taken up by English speakers in the 15th century, it lost much of its ancestral thunder and was used largely as a technical term for the issuing of formal denunciations by ecclesiastical authorities. In time, its original lightning spark returned, describing intense strikes of a tirade.
Examples of fulminate in a Sentence
Jonathan Blitzer, The New Yorker, 7 Oct. 2024
When Reagan fulminated against the Soviet Union, his aides, fearing nuclear war, challenged him.
—Daniel Immerwahr, The New Yorker, 9 Sep. 2024
Marc Weingarten, The Atlantic, 23 Sep. 2024
According to salvage expert Curt Newport, who recovered Liberty Bell 7 in 1999, the detonator percussion caps that served as a triggering mechanism likely contained mercury fulminate.
—Andy Saunders, Discover Magazine, 21 July 2021
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Dictionary Entries Near fulminate
Cite this Entry
“Fulminate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fulminate. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.
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