fulminate

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
14
Words With Friends
18
Letters
9
Pronunciation
/ˈfʌlmɪneɪt/
See all 3 pronunciations
/ˈfʌlmɪneɪt/ · /ˈfʊlmɪneɪt/ · /-əneɪt/

Definition of fulminate

6 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

verb

  1. (figuratively, intransitive)To make a verbal attack.
    “In short, the criticism which the great lexicographer fulminated against an unfortunate author, seems to have been adopted by the profession as applicable to everything under the sun […]”
    “To be sure, Trump has fulminated on Twitter against the judges who rebuffed him. But his tirades have earned him a reprimand––if a brief, vague one––from his own Supreme Court nominee.”
See all 6 definitions

verb

  1. (figuratively, intransitive)To make a verbal attack.
    “In short, the criticism which the great lexicographer fulminated against an unfortunate author, seems to have been adopted by the profession as applicable to everything under the sun […]”
    “To be sure, Trump has fulminated on Twitter against the judges who rebuffed him. But his tirades have earned him a reprimand––if a brief, vague one––from his own Supreme Court nominee.”
  2. (figuratively, transitive)To issue as a denunciation.
    “They fulminated the most hostile of all decrees.”
    “While they were the opposition, Democrats fulminated that the Republicans were so deep in the pockets of Big Pharma that they wouldn’t even let the government negotiate lower drug prices.”
  3. (intransitive)To thunder or make a loud noise.
  4. (archaic, transitive)To strike with lightning; to cause to explode.
    “the present owners couldn't afford the electric bills anymore, several amateur gaffers, sad to say, having already been fulminated trying to bootleg power in off the municipal lines.”
  5. (figuratively)to act as lightning, appearing quickly and destructively

noun

  1. Any salt or ester of fulminic acid, mostly explosive.
    “On 19 February a jubilant Bigeard announced that his 3rd R.P.C. had seized eighty-seven bombs, seventy kilos of explosive, 5,120 fulminate of mercury detonators, 309 electric detonators, etc.”

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English fulminaten, borrowed from Latin fulminātus, perfect passive participle of fulminō (“to lighten, hurl or strike with lightning”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from fulmen (“lightning which strikes and sets on fire, thunderbolt”), from earlier *fulgmen, *fulgimen, from fulgeō, fulgō (“flash, lighten”). Doublet of fulmine. More at fulgent.

Words you can make from fulminate

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7-letter words

11 words

6-letter words

42 words

5-letter words

62 words

4-letter words

84 words

Hooks

2 extensions · 2 back

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