FULMINATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does fulminate mean? 

• FULMINATE (noun)
  The noun FULMINATE has 1 sense:

1. a salt or ester of fulminic acid

  Familiarity information: FULMINATE used as a noun is very rare.

• FULMINATE (verb)
  The verb FULMINATE has 3 senses:

1. criticize severely

2. come on suddenly and intensely

3. cause to explode violently and with loud noise

  Familiarity information: FULMINATE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FULMINATE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A salt or ester of fulminic acid

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("fulminate" is a kind of...):

salt (a compound formed by replacing hydrogen in an acid by a metal (or a radical that acts like a metal))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "fulminate"):

fulminate of mercury; fulminating mercury; mercury fulminate (a fulminate that when dry explodes violently if struck or heated; used in detonators and blasting caps and percussion caps)

• FULMINATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they fulminate    ... he / she / it fulminates   
Past simple: fulminated   
Past participle: fulminated   
-ing form: fulminating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Criticize severely

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

fulminate; rail

Context example:

She railed against the bad social policies

Hypernyms (to "fulminate" is one way to...):

denounce (speak out against)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

fulmination (thunderous verbal attack)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Come on suddenly and intensely

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

the disease fulminated

Hypernyms (to "fulminate" is one way to...):

appear; come along (come into being or existence, or appear on the scene)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

fulminant (sudden and severe)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Cause to explode violently and with loud noise

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "fulminate" is one way to...):

blow up; detonate; explode; set off (cause to burst with a violent release of energy)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

fulmination (the act of exploding with noise and violence)

 Context examples 

Carries a mutation causing fulminated hepatitis and jaundice at about four months of age.

(LEC, Rat Strain, NCI Thesaurus)

Though it was now dark, I knew he was awake; because I heard him fulminating strange anathemas at finding himself lying in a pool of water.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)