noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A large, dark cloud, usually a cumulonimbus, charged with electricity and producing thunder and lightning.
2. 2
   a dark cloud of great vertical extent charged with electricity; associated with thunderstorms wordnet
3. 3
   Something menacing and brooding. broadly, figuratively

   "the ominous thunderclouds of war"

Synonyms

All synonyms

alto-cumulusalto-stratusangry cloudsanvil cloudbanner cloudbillowy cloud

Example

More examples

"A foreboding thundercloud formed in the sky."

Etymology

From thunder + cloud.

Related phrases

thunder and lightning

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.