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Thunder vs Lighting - What's the difference?

thunder | lighting |

As nouns the difference between thunder and lighting

is that thunder is the sound caused by the discharge of atmospheric electrical charge while lighting is the equipment used to provide illumination; the illumination so provided.

As a verb thunder

is to produce thunder; to sound, rattle, or roar, as a discharge of atmospheric electricity; often used impersonally.

thunder

English

Noun

(wikipedia thunder)
  • The sound caused by the discharge of atmospheric electrical charge.
  • Thunder ''is preceded by lightning.
  • A sound resembling thunder; especially, one produced by a jet airplane in flight.
  • A deep, rumbling noise.
  • Off in the distance, he heard the thunder of hoofbeats, signalling a stampede.
  • An alarming or startling threat or denunciation.
  • * Prescott
  • The thunders of the Vatican could no longer strike into the heart of princes.
  • (obsolete) The discharge of electricity; a thunderbolt.
  • * Shakespeare
  • The revenging gods / 'Gainst parricides did all their thunders bend.
  • (figuratively) The spotlight.
  • Usage notes

    * roll, clap, peal are some of the words used to count thunder.

    Derived terms

    * thunder and lightning * thunderation * thunderbird * thunderbolt * thunderboomer * thunderbox * thunderclap * thundercloud * thunderhead * thunderous * thundersquall * thunderstorm * thunder thighs

    See also

    * lightning

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To produce thunder; to sound, rattle, or roar, as a discharge of atmospheric electricity; often used impersonally.
  • (label) To make a noise like thunder.
  • (label) To talk with a loud, threatening voice.
  • (label) To say (something) with a loud, threatening voice.
  • To produce something with incredible power
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=January 19 , author=Jonathan Stevenson , title=Leeds 1 - 3 Arsenal , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=Just as it appeared Arsenal had taken the sting out of the tie, Johnson produced a moment of outrageous quality, thundering a bullet of a left foot shot out of the blue and into the top left-hand corner of Wojciech Szczesny's net with the Pole grasping at thin air.}}

    Derived terms

    * thunderer

    lighting

    English

    Noun

    (wikipedia lighting) (en noun)
  • The equipment used to provide illumination; the illumination so provided.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Yesterday’s fuel , passage=The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania.
  • The act of activating such equipment, or of igniting a flame etc.
  • * 2012 , Andrew Pessin, Uncommon Sense (page 142)
  • We've observed plenty of strikings followed by lightings , so even if we should not say that the strikings cause the lightings, isn't it at least reasonable to predict, and to believe, that the next time we strike a match in similar conditions, it will be followed by a lighting?
  • The process of annealing metals.
  • (Webster 1913)