Definition of "thunderbolt" in English

noun

1. A flash of lightning accompanied by a crash of thunder.

   • News of the actress’s death came as a thunderbolt to her fans.

2. (figuratively) An event that is terrible, horrific or unexpected.

3. Vehement threatening or censure; especially, ecclesiastical denunciation; fulmination.

4. (soccer) A very powerful shot.

5. (paleontology) A belemnite, or thunderstone.

6. (heraldry) A charge in the form of two joined bundles with four rays of lightning emerging from them, resembling the thunderbolt of Jupiter.

7. A daring or irresistible hero.

verb

1. (transitive, rare) To strike with a thunderbolt.

2. (rare) To move swiftly and violently.