jolt
UK/d͡ʒɒlt//d͡ʒoʊlt/
jolt verb: to push or shake abruptly and roughly.
Verb
jolt (third-person singular simple present jolts, present participle jolting, simple past and past participle jolted)
- To push or shake abruptly and roughly.
- The bus jolted its passengers at every turn.
- To knock sharply
- To shock (someone) into taking action or being alert
- I jolted her out of complacency.
- To shock emotionally.
- Her untimely death jolted us all.
- To shake; to move with a series of jerks.
- The car jolted along the stony path.
Noun
jolt (plural jolts)
- An act of jolting.
- Timing your first coffee for mid-morning allows the caffeine to work its magic right as your body’s natural energy starts to wane. Instead of a jolt, you get a smooth, effective lift that carries you through the late morning and into the afternoon.2025 August 22, “The Perfect Caffeine Kick: When is the Best Time to Drink Coffee for Energy?”, in Mochas & Javas
- A surprise or shock.
- A long prison sentence.
- Just sit down and look around for a while. Notice your cell, John. Take a good look at it, because it is going to be your home for the next ten years. Sure! You have just gotten a ten-year "jolt," John; so settle down and be a good prisoner.1949, American Journal of Correction, page 24
- But blow wise to this, buddy, blow wise to this: Never play cards with a man called Doc. Never eat at a place called Mom's. Never sleep with a woman whose troubles are worse than your own. Never let nobody talk you into shaking another man's jolt. And never you cop another man's plea. I've tried...1958, Nelson Algren, A Walk on the Wild Side, page 312
- A narcotic injection.
- The rate of change in acceleration with respect to time.
jolt meaning in Tamil, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali
jolt in Tamil
- குலுங்கல், குலுக்கி, குலுக்கு, குலுக்கம்
jolt in Marathi
- jolt, shock
- धक्का dhakkā
jolt in Urdu
- jolt, shock, dexterity damage
- دھچکا dhackā
jolt in Bengali
- ঝাঁকি দেওয়া, আকস্মিক ধাক্কা দেওয়া, ঝাঁকি, ধাক্কা, বিস্ময়, আকস্মিক আঘাত
More languagesFewer languages
- jolt in Malayalam
- കുലുക്കമുണ്ടാക്കുക, കുടുക്കമുണ്ടാക്കുക, ഉന്തുക, തള്ളുക
- jolt in Kannada
- ಎತ್ತಿಹಾಕು, ಕುಲುಕು, ಬೆಚ್ಚಿಸು, ಕುಲುಕಾಡಿಸು
Examples of jolt in a sentence
- Never let nobody talk you into shaking another man's jolt.1958, Nelson Algren, A Walk on the Wild Side, page 312:
- After three "jolts" in prison, three separate periods of incarceration, Braly decided to try his hand at writing.1994, Eric Cummins, The Rise and Fall of California's Radical Prison Movement, page 30:
Synonyms of jolt
Forms of jolt
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | jolts |
| present participle | jolting |
| past participle | jolted |
| past | jolted |
| Noun | |
| plural | jolts |
Origin of jolt
Perhaps from joll (“to knock, strike”) + -t (frequentative suffix).
Words formed from jolt
Words that rhyme with jolt
Questions about jolt
- What does jolt mean?
- Jolt means to push or shake abruptly and roughly.
- What is jolt in Tamil?
- Jolt in Tamil is குலுங்கல், குலுக்கி, குலுக்கு. See Jolt meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use jolt in a sentence?
- Never let nobody talk you into shaking another man's jolt.
- What part of speech is jolt?
- Jolt can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce jolt?
- Jolt is pronounced /d͡ʒɒlt/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of jolt?
- The past tense of jolt is jolted.
Words near jolt in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: jolt (page history and authors); jolt (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); धक्का (Marathi) (page history and authors); دھچکا (Urdu) (page history and authors); jolt (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); jolt (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); jolt (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-jolt.ogg.
Cite this entry: “jolt.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/jolt. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.