fulminate Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a salt or ester of fulminic acid
  2. verb criticize severely
    rail.
    • He fulminated against the Republicans' plan to cut Medicare
    • She railed against the bad social policies
  3. verb come on suddenly and intensely
    • the disease fulminated
  4. verb cause to explode violently and with loud noise

WordNet

Ful"mi*nate intransitive verb
Etymology
L. fulminatus, p. p. of fulminare to lighten, strike with lightning, fr. fulmen thunderbolt, fr. fulgere to shine. See Fulgent, and cf. Fulmine.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Fulminated ; present participle & verbal noun Fulminating
Definitions
  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 transitive verb
Definitions
  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 noun
Etymology
Cf. P. fulminate. See Fulminate, v. i.
Definitions
  1. (Chem.) (a) A salt of fulminic acid. See under Fulminic. (b) A fulminating powder.

Webster 1913