fulminate

See also: Fulminate

English

Etymology

From Latin fulminātus, past participle of fulminō (“lighten, hurl or strike with lightning”), from fulmen (“lightning which strikes and sets on fire, thunderbolt”), from earlier *fulgmen, *fulgimen, from fulgeō, fulgō (“flash, lighten”). Doublet of fulmine. More at fulgent.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfʌlmɪneɪt/, /ˈfʊlmɪneɪt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfʌlmɪneɪt/, /ˈfʊlmɪneɪt/, /-əneɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Verb

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

1. (intransitive, figuratively) To make a verbal attack.
2. (transitive, figuratively) To issue as a denunciation.
   • 1842, Thomas De Quincey, “Cicero”, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine:

     They fulminated the most hostile of all decrees.

   • 1855, William Neilson, Mesmerism in its relation to health and disease, page 46:

     In short, the criticism which the great lexicographer fulminated against an unfortunate author, seems to have been adopted by the profession as applicable to everything under the sun […]

3. (intransitive) To thunder or make a loud noise.
4. (transitive, now rare) To strike with lightning; to cause to explode.
   • 2009, Thomas Pynchon, Inherent Vice, Vintage, published 2010, page 235:

     the present owners couldn't afford the electric bills anymore, several amateur gaffers, sad to say, having already been fulminated trying to bootleg power in off the municipal lines.

Synonyms

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

Translations

To make a verbal attack

• Russian: порицать (ru) (poricatʹ)
• Spanish: fulminar (es)

To issue as a denunciation

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kaste bannstråle imot

• Spanish: fulminar (es)

To strike with lightning

• French: foudroyer (fr)
• Portuguese: fulminar (pt)
• Spanish: fulminar (es)

To cause to explode

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: la eksplodere

Noun

fulminate (plural fulminates)

1. (chemistry) Any salt or ester of fulminic acid, mostly explosive.
   • 1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York: Review Books, published 2006, page 193:

     On 19 February a jubilant Bigeard announced that his 3rd R.P.C. had seized eighty-seven bombs, seventy kilos of explosive, 5,120 fulminate of mercury detonators, 309 electric detonators, etc.

Translations

Any salt or ester of fulminic acid

• Bulgarian: фулминат m (fulminat)
• Finnish: fulminaatti
• French: fulminate (fr) m
• Hungarian: fulminát, higany-fulminát, higany(II)-fulminát, durranóhigany (hu)
• Spanish: fulminato m

Related terms

• fulmination
• fulminator
• fulminatory
• fulminic
• mercury fulminate
• silver fulminate

French

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

fulminate m (plural fulminates)

1. fulminate

Further reading

• “fulminate”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Etymology 1

Verb

fulminate

1. inflection of fulminare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

Participle

fulminate f pl

1. feminine plural of fulminato

Latin

Adjective

fulmināte

1. vocative masculine singular of fulminātus

Spanish

Verb

fulminate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of fulminar combined with te