rumble

/ˈɹʌmb(ə)l/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Australia/ˈɹɐmb(ə)l/

rumble noun: a low, heavy, continuous sound, such as that of thunder or a hungry stomach.

Noun

rumble (plural rumbles)

A low, heavy, continuous sound, such as that of thunder or a hungry stomach.
- The rumble from passing trucks made it hard to sleep at night.
(slang) A street fight or brawl.
A rotating cask or box in which small articles are smoothed or polished by friction against each other.
(dated) A seat for servants, behind the body of a carriage.
- Kit, well wrapped, […] was in the rumble behind.1840-1841, Charles Dickens, Master Humphrey's Clock
- "I never was so sorry for any thing as for Mr. Glentworth's death," said Isabella Granard, endeavouring to screen her face from a small, sharp rain, to which her place in the rumble of a travelling carriage left her quite exposed.1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter I, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 2

Verb

rumble (third-person singular simple present rumbles, present participle rumbling, simple past and past participle rumbled)

(intransitive) To make a low, heavy, continuous sound.
- If I don't eat, my stomach will rumble.
- I could hear the thunder rumbling in the distance.
Synonyms:

grumble
(transitive) To discover deceitful or underhanded behaviour.
- The police is going to rumble your hideout.
(intransitive) To move while making a rumbling noise.
- The truck rumbled over the rough road.
- As the train rumbled slowly over the Forth Bridge, the western sky was aflame with a particularly gorgeous sunset, and lights were twinkling from the small craft riding at anchor on the calm waters of the firth.1950 January, Arthur F. Beckenham, “With British Railways to the Far North”, in Railway Magazine, page 8
(intransitive, slang) To fight; to brawl.
(intransitive) To provide haptic feedback by vibrating.
(transitive) To cause to pass through a rumble, or polishing machine.
(intransitive, obsolete) To murmur; to ripple.
- The trembling streams which wont in channels clear
  To rumble gently down with murmur soft,[…]c. 1580, Edmund Spenser, “The Tears of the Muses”, in Complaints, published 1591

Interjection

An onomatopoeia describing a rumbling noise

Proper noun capitalized: Rumble

Rumble (countable and uncountable, plural Rumbles)

A surname.
An unincorporated community in Pike County, Indiana, United States.
An unincorporated community in Boone County, West Virginia, United States.

rumble meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

rumble in Hindi

to rumble, thunder: गड़गड़ाना gaṛgaṛānā
rumble, continuous muffled sound: गड़गड़ाहट gaṛgaṛāhaṭ

rumble in Marathi

low, heavy, continuous sound: खडखडाट khaḍakhḍāṭ, गडगडाट gaḍagḍāṭ
to make a low pitched noise: गडगडणे gaḍgaḍṇe, गडाडणे gaḍāḍṇe

rumble in Urdu

rumble: گڑگڑاہٹ gaṛagaṛāhaṭ

More languagesFewer languages

rumble in Bengali: ঝঙ্কার jhoṅkar
rumble in Malayalam: ഇരപ്പ്, മുഴക്കം, ഹുങ്കാരം
rumble in Kannada: ಗುಡುಗು, ಆಳದ ಸದ್ದು, ಗಡಗಡ ಎನ್ನು
rumble in Sanskrit: स्फूर्ज् sphūrj
rumble in Persian: غرنبه ġoronbe, کنور konur

Examples of rumble in a sentence

I watched him take his seat on the third row from the front, and I heard him rumble, “Nearer my God to thee,” some notes behind the rest of us.1960 July 11, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC:
Henderson, beginning a mini-run in the team with David de Gea on paternity leave, threw out to the left flank and Shaw had only one thought – to rumble upfield.2021 March 7, David Hytner, “Manchester United catch City cold as Fernandes and Shaw end winning run”, in The Guardian:
We meet at Blackfriars station, in a rather incongruous little room with four seats, on the bridge high above the River Thames. […] Thameslink trains rumble past every minute.2026 May 13, Angie Doll tells Paul Clifton, “The RAIL Interview”, in RAIL, number 1061, page 50:

All 36 example sentences with rumble

Synonyms of rumble

Antonyms

snap

All synonyms and antonyms of rumble

Forms of rumble

Noun
plural	rumbles
alternative form	rummle
alternative form	rommle
Verb
third-person singular present	rumbles
present participle	rumbling
past participle	rumbled
past	rumbled
Proper noun
plural	Rumbles

Past tense of rumble: rumbled

Plural of rumble: rumbles

Origin of rumble

From Middle English rumblen, romblen, rummelyn, frequentative form of romen (“to roar”), equivalent to rome + -le. Cognate with Dutch rommelen (“to rumble”), Low German rummeln (“to rumble”), German rumpeln (“to be noisy”), Danish rumle (“to rumble”), all of imitative origin. Compare typologically Russian громи́ть (gromítʹ), погро́м (pogróm), разгро́м (razgróm) (akin to гром (grom), греме́ть (gremétʹ), громыха́ть (gromyxátʹ)). Also compare гро́хнуть (gróxnutʹ) (akin to гро́хот (gróxot)).

A variant of Rumbold, Rumbel or Rumpel.

Words formed from rumble

Phrases with rumble

Words that rhyme with rumble

2 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about rumble

What does rumble mean?: Rumble means a low, heavy, continuous sound, such as that of thunder or a hungry stomach.
What is rumble in Hindi?: Rumble in Hindi is गड़गड़ाना (gaṛgaṛānā), गड़गड़ाहट (gaṛgaṛāhaṭ). See Rumble meaning in Hindi.
How do you use rumble in a sentence?: I watched him take his seat on the third row from the front, and I heard him rumble, “Nearer my God to thee,” some notes behind the rest of us.
What part of speech is rumble?: Rumble can be a noun, a verb, an interjection or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce rumble?: Rumble is pronounced /ˈɹʌmb(ə)l/ (US).
What is the plural of rumble?: The plural of rumble is rumbles.

Words near rumble in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-rumble.ogg.

Cite this entry: “rumble.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rumble. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.