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What is the difference between thunder and lightning?

thunder | lightning |

In figuratively terms the difference between thunder and lightning

is that thunder is the spotlight while lightning is anything that moves very fast.

As nouns the difference between thunder and lightning

is that thunder is the sound caused by the discharge of atmospheric electrical charge while 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.

As verbs the difference between thunder and lightning

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

As an adjective lightning is

extremely fast or sudden.

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

    lightning

    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".