FULMINATE

fulminate

(noun) a salt or ester of fulminic acid

fulminate

(verb) cause to explode violently and with loud noise

fulminate

(verb) come on suddenly and intensely; “the disease fulminated”

fulminate, rail

(verb) criticize severely; “He fulminated against the Republicans’ plan to cut Medicare”; “She railed against the bad social policies”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Verb

fulminate (third-person singular simple present fulminates, present participle fulminating, simple past and past participle fulminated)

(intransitive, figuratively) To make a verbal attack.

(transitive, figuratively) To issue as a denunciation.

(intransitive) To thunder or make a loud noise.

(transitive, now rare) To strike with lightning; to cause to explode.

Synonyms

• (verbal attack): berate, condemn, criticize, denounce, denunciate, vilify

Noun

fulminate (plural fulminates)

(chemistry) Any salt or ester of fulminic acid, mostly explosive.

Source: Wiktionary


Ful"mi*nate, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Fulminated; p. pr. & vb. n. Fulminating.] Etym: [L. fulminatus, p. p. of fulminare to lighten, strike with lightning, fr. fulmen thunderbolt, fr. fulgere to shine. See Fulgent, and cf. Fulmine.]

1. To thunder; hence, to make a loud, sudden noise; to detonate; to explode with a violent report.

2. To issue or send forth decrees or censures with the assumption of supreme authority; to thunder forth menaces.

Ful"mi*nate, v. t.

1. To cause to explode. Sprat.

2. To utter or send out with denunciations or censures; -- said especially of menaces or censures uttered by ecclesiastical authority. They fulminated the most hostile of all decrees. De Quincey.

Ful"mi*nate, n. Etym: [Cf. P. fulminate. See Fulminate, v. i.] (Chem.) (a) A salt of fulminic acid. See under Fulminic. (b) A fulminating powder. Fulminate of gold, an explosive compound of gold; -- called also fulminating gold, and aurum fulminans.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

16 March 2025

SUSPENDED

(adjective) (of undissolved particles in a fluid) supported or kept from sinking or falling by buoyancy and without apparent attachment; “suspended matter such as silt or mud...”; “dust particles suspended in the air”; “droplets in suspension in a gas”


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Coffee Trivia

The word “coffee” entered the English language in 1582 via the Dutch “koffie,” borrowed from the Ottoman Turkish “kahve,” borrowed in turn from the Arabic “qahwah.” The Arabic word qahwah was traditionally held to refer to a type of wine.

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