Library / English Dictionary

FULMINATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (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)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

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)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Come on suddenly and intensely

Example:

the disease fulminated

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

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:

Criticize severely

Example:

She railed against the bad social policies

Synonyms:

fulminate; rail

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

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

denounce (speak out against)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

fulmination (thunderous verbal attack)

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