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ball lightning

ball light·ning
B b

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • UK Pronunciation
    • UK IPA
    • [bawl lahyt-ning]
    • /bɔl ˈlaɪt nɪŋ/
    • /bɔːl ˈlaɪt.nɪŋ/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [bawl lahyt-ning]
    • /bɔl ˈlaɪt nɪŋ/

Definitions of ball lightning words

  • noun ball lightning a luminous electrically charged ball occasionally seen during electrical storms 3
  • noun ball lightning a rare form of lightning seen as a short-lived, reddish, glowing ball, up to about a foot in diameter, that appears to float in the air or move rapidly along the ground before disintegrating 3
  • noun ball lightning a rare form of lightning, consisting of a bright, luminous ball that moves rapidly along objects or floats in the air. 1
  • abbreviation BALL LIGHTNING ball-shaped lightning 1
  • noun ball lightning A short-lived, glowing ball sometimes observed to float in the air and thought to consist of ionized gas associated with thunderstorms. 0
See all 5 definitions of ball lightning

Information block about the term

Origin of ball lightning

First appearance:

before 1855
One of the 30% newest English words
First recorded in 1855-60

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Ball lightning

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Full grammatical hierarchy of Ball lightning

ball lightning popularity

A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 31% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.
According to our data about 66% of words is more used. This is a rare but used term. It occurs in the pages of specialized literature and in the speech of educated people.

ball lightning usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Synonyms for ball lightning

noun ball lightning

  • fireball — Sir Charles George Douglas, 1860–1943, Canadian poet and novelist.
Just one Synonym for ball lightning

See also

Matching words

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