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Lightning vs Electric - What's the difference?

lightning | electric |

As nouns the difference between lightning and electric

is that lightning is a flash of light produced by short-duration, high-voltage discharge of electricity within a cloud, between clouds, or between a cloud and the earth while electric is electricity.

As adjectives the difference between lightning and electric

is that lightning is extremely fast or sudden while electric is of, relating to, produced by, operated with, or utilising electricity; electrical.

As a verb lightning

is to produce lightning.

lightning

English

(wikipedia lightning) (wikiversity lightning lecture)

Noun

(en-noun)
  • A flash of light produced by short-duration, high-voltage discharge of electricity within a cloud, between clouds, or between a cloud and the earth.
    • Although we did not see the lightning , we did hear the thunder.
  • * 1901 , E. L. Morris, The Child's Eden , page 16:
    • It was the thought of hot July and August days, when the clouds piled up like woolly mountains, and lightnings streaked the sky.
  • A discharge of this kind.
    • The lightning was hot enough to melt the sand.
    That tree was hit by lightning .
  • * 1881 , Daniel Pierce Thompson, The Green Mountain Boys , page 281:
    • The rain at length ceased; and the lightnings , as they played along the black parapet of clouds, that lay piled in the east, shone with less dazzling fierceness,
  • (figuratively) Anything that moves very fast.
  • * 1918 , (Edgar Rice Burroughs), , chapter V:
    • Nobs, though, was lightning by comparison with the slow thinking beast and dodged his opponent's thrust with ease. Then he raced to the rear of the tremendous thing and seized it by the tail.
  • The act of making bright, or the state of being made bright; enlightenment; brightening, as of the mental powers.
    • (Webster 1913)

    Quotations

    * 2008 , Kathy Clark, Stand By Your Man , page 280: *: Manny drove a few miles per hour under the speed limit, entranced by the awesome display of lightning streaking out of the clouds toward earth.

    Derived terms

    * ball lightning * Jewish lightning * greased lightning * lightning bug * lightning bolt * lightning conductor * lightning detector * lightning in a bottle * lightning rod * sheet lightning * upward lightning

    Coordinate terms

    * thunderbolt

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Extremely fast or sudden.
  • Moving at the speed of lightning.

    • Verb

    (en verb)
  • (impersonal, childish, or, nonstandard) To produce lightning.
  • * 1916 , Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Understood Betsy
    • Or if it thundered and lightninged , Aunt Frances always dropped everything she might be doing and held Elizabeth Ann tightly in her arms until it was all over.
  • * 1968 , Dan Greenburg, Chewsday: a sex novel
    • The next day, though it is not only raining but thundering and lightninging as well, antiquing is seen by three-fourths of those present as a lesser evil than free play.
  • * 1987 , Tricia Springstubb, Eunice Gottlieb and the unwhitewashed truth about life
    • "Hey!" yelled Reggie, pulling her back. "Get in here! It's lightninging . I don't want a charcoal-broiled friend!"
  • * 1988 , Carlo Collodi, Roberto Innocenti, The adventures of Pinocchio
    • I don't know, Father, but believe me, it has been a horrible night — one that I'll never forget. It thundered and lightninged , and I was very hungry.

    Usage notes

    * bolt, flash, strike are some of the words used to count lightning. * The standard, but rare, verb for "lightning occurs" is lighten, used only in the impersonal form "it lightens", or as "it’s lightening".

    electric

    English

    Alternative forms

    * electrick (chiefly archaic)

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Of, relating to, produced by, operated with, or utilising electricity; electrical.
  • * {{quote-book, year=2006, author=(Edwin Black), title=Internal Combustion
    • , chapter=1 citation , passage=But electric vehicles and the batteries that made them run became ensnared in corporate scandals, fraud, and monopolistic corruption that shook the confidence of the nation and inspired automotive upstarts.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Out of the gloom , passage=[Rural solar plant] schemes are of little help to industry or other heavy users of electricity. Nor is solar power yet as cheap as the grid. For all that, the rapid arrival of electric light to Indian villages is long overdue. When the national grid suffers its next huge outage, as it did in July 2012 when hundreds of millions were left in the dark, look for specks of light in the villages.}}
  • Of or relating to an electronic version of a musical instrument that has an acoustic equivalent.
  • Being emotionally thrilling; electrifying.
  • * (Elizabeth Barrett Browning)
    • Electric Pindar.
  • Drawing electricity from an external source; not battery-operated; corded.

    • Derived terms

    * electrical * electrical outlet * electrical engineer * electric chair * electric darts * electric eye * electric fence * electric grid (power grid) * electric shock

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • (informal) .
  • (rare) An electric car.
  • (archaic) A substance or object which can be electrified; an insulator or non-conductor, like amber or glass.

    • References

    * * * Dictionary.com definitions of electric * Niels H. de V. Heathcote (December 1967). " The early meaning of electricity'': Some ''Pseudodoxia Epidemica'' - I". ''Annals of Science 23 (4): pp. 261-275. 1000 English basic words ----