Word of the Week 2021 – Thunderplump

Yet again Susie Dent delivers with a definition of a word summing up today’s weather, ‘thunderplump’

Etymologist and Countdown ‘Dictionary Corner’ stalwart Susie Dent has delivered The Steeple Times’ ‘Word of the Week’ yet again this week.

Previously featured with descriptions to accompany ‘autolatry’ (‘self worship’) in November 2020 and ‘going to the polls’ in May 2021, delightful Dent shared a useful description of the weather on Friday on her Twitter account. Her tweet read:

Word of the day is ‘thunderplump’: a sudden, heavy downpour that comes out of nowhere and drenches you in seconds.

Perfectly summing up today’s metreological conditions, the missive has already been retweeted over 1,300 times, quoted over 240 times and liked by over 10,000 users.

Reactions to the post, equally, were most amusing and with many adapting this noun to politics also, here is a word of Scots dialect origin that should most definitely be added to your personal lexicon.

Pictured top: Susie Dent (left) and two people struggling to walk through the consequential effects of a thunderplump.