steal someone's thunder

steal

S s

Definitions of steal someone's thunder words

verb with object steal someone's thunder to strike, drive, inflict, give forth, etc., with loud noise or violent action. 1
verb without object steal someone's thunder to give forth thunder (often used impersonally with it as the subject): It thundered last night. 1
verb without object steal someone's thunder to make a loud, resounding noise like thunder: The artillery thundered in the hills. 1
verb without object steal someone's thunder to utter loud or vehement denunciations, threats, or the like. 1
verb without object steal someone's thunder to speak in a very loud tone. 1
verb without object steal someone's thunder to move or go with a loud noise or violent action: The train thundered through the village. 1

before 900

One of the 4% oldest English words

before 900; 1860-65 for def 5; Middle English stelen, Old English stelan; cognate with German stehlen, Old Norse stela, Gothic stilan

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 96% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.

Most Europeans know this English word. The frequency of it’s usage is somewhere between "mom" and "screwdriver".

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