LIGHTNING

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does lightning mean? 

• LIGHTNING (noun)
  The noun LIGHTNING has 2 senses:

1. abrupt electric discharge from cloud to cloud or from cloud to earth accompanied by the emission of light

2. the flash of light that accompanies an electric discharge in the atmosphere (or something resembling such a flash); can scintillate for a second or more

  Familiarity information: LIGHTNING used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LIGHTNING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Abrupt electric discharge from cloud to cloud or from cloud to earth accompanied by the emission of light

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

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

atmospheric electricity (electrical discharges in the atmosphere)

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

chain lightning; forked lightning (a form of lightning that moves rapidly in a zigzag path with one end divided (fork-like))

bolt; bolt of lightning; thunderbolt (a discharge of lightning accompanied by thunder)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The flash of light that accompanies an electric discharge in the atmosphere (or something resembling such a flash); can scintillate for a second or more

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

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

flash (a sudden intense burst of radiant energy)

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

heat lightning (bright flashes of light near the horizon without thunder (especially on hot evenings); usually attributed to distant lightning that is reflected by clouds)

sheet lighting (lightning that appears as a broad sheet; due to reflections of more distant lightning and to diffusion by the clouds)

 Context examples 

Oh, my dear, I see that your eyes are opened, and that to you the lightning flash show all the leagues, for Mrs. Harker began to clap her hands and her eyes sparkled.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

My estimate is that the probability to be injured by one of these fragments is similar to the probability of being hit by lightning twice in the same year, Krag added.

(Scientists Track Chinese Space Station as It Falls to Earth, VOA)

During this short voyage I saw the lightning playing on the summit of Mont Blanc in the most beautiful figures.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning across the room he flung open the door.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In the data from our first eight flybys, Juno's MWR detected 377 lightning discharges.

(Juno Solves 39-Year Old Mystery of Jupiter Lightning, NASA)

Gretel, however, ran like lightning to Hansel, opened his little stable, and cried: “Hansel, we are saved! The old witch is dead!”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

In similar ways she had experienced unusual feelings when she looked at wild animals in the menagerie, or when she witnessed a storm of wind, or shuddered at the bright-ribbed lightning.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Or if lightning hit somewhere that had phosphorous, or a meteor had a phosphorous content, could it generate an impact to make phosphine?

(Poisonous Earthly Molecule May Be Sign of Extraterrestrial Life, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

“I WILL speak!” she said, turning on me with her lightning eyes.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

God's direct agency was to be seen in the thunder and the rainbow, the whirlwind and the lightning.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)