fulmination

/fʌlmɪˈneɪʃən/

//fʌlmɪˈneɪʃən// noun

"fulmination" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“fulmination” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
11
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The act of fulminating or exploding; detonation.

Corpus desk

Index EN-fulmination · fulmination · English

fulmination · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "F" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for fulmination
PropertyValue
Headwordfulmination
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/fʌlmɪˈneɪʃən/
Letters11
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “fulmination” sits in English frequency

fulminationfalls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

fulmination is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /fʌlmɪˈneɪʃən/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for fulmination, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle French fulmination, from Latin fulminātiō; equivalent to fulmine + -ation. The correct English form is fulmination, spelled F-U-L-M-I-N-A-T-I-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    The act of fulminating or exploding; detonation.
  2. 2
    The act of thundering forth threats or censures, as with authority.
  3. 3
    That which is fulminated or thundered forth; vehement menace or censure.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how fulmination appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. It is curious, reading the fulminations of American purists of the last generation, to note how many of the Americanisms they denounced have not only got into perfectly good usage at home but even broken down all guards across the ocean.

Etymology

From Middle French fulmination, from Latin fulminātiō; equivalent to fulmine + -ation.

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "fulmination"?
"fulmination" is spelled F-U-L-M-I-N-A-T-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is /fʌlmɪˈneɪʃən/.
What does "fulmination" mean?
As a noun, "fulmination" means: The act of fulminating or exploding; detonation.
How do you pronounce "fulmination"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "fulmination" is /fʌlmɪˈneɪʃən/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "fulmination"?
From Middle French fulmination, from Latin fulminātiō; equivalent to fulmine + -ation. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

What to do next

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Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list