Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use thump in a sentence

38 example sentences · noun, verb

Thump means a blow that produces a muffled sound. Example: “Where the thump have you been?!”

Examples of thump by meaning

nounThe sound of such a blow; a thud.

  • An interesting feature of the church is the invisible clock, which you can hear thumping away as you enter.1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 163

nounUsed to replace the vulgar or blasphemous element in "what the hell" and similar phrases.

  • Where the thump have you been?!

verbTo hit (someone or something) as if to make a thump.

  • Kasper Schmeichel brilliantly denied Marouane Chamakh before Bacary Sagna thumped home a second, though Bradley Johnson's screamer halved the deficit.2011 January 19, Jonathan Stevenson, “Leeds 1-3 Arsenal”, in BBC

verbTo cause to make a thumping sound.

  • The cat thumped its tail in irritation.

verbTo throb with a muffled rhythmic sound.

  • Dance music thumped from the nightclub entrance.
  • Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema.2013 June 29, “Travels and travails”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 55

More sentences with thump

  • My father punctuated his tirade with thumps on the desk.From the entry punctuate
  • Instead she would thump her fist to defend Irish people from those speaking out against them.2016 November 20, Katie Walsh, “Why are Irish people so precious about Irishness?”, in The Irish Times, Dublin: Irish Times Trust, →ISSN…. From the entry precious
  • You're walking along and thump, there's a drop bear covering your head.2012, Marion Lennox, Taming the Brooding Cattleman (Sweet Romance), Chatswood, N.S.W.: Harlequin Mills & Boon, →ISBN. From the entry drop bear
  • Ulysses thumped his side and itched his back side, then slipped into his car.2003, Ray Emerson, The Riddle of Cthulhu. From the entry itch
  • No slickered stranger rides down the arroyo, jingles to the bar and thumps for booze.1994, John Woods, Black Marigolds, →ISBN, page 38. From the entry slickered
  • He's been thumped, kicked, bashed, scrambled and dropped in his games so far.1992, James Leach, Bubble Dizzy (game review in Your Sinclair magazine issue 74, February 1992). From the entry Codies
  • When the spoggy flew in at the window and thumped against the pane, Father couldn't touch it.1978, Barbara Hanrahan, Where the Queens all Strayed, Brisbane: University of Queensland Press, →ISBN, page 49. From the entry spoggy
  • An extra-normal thump, too; damme, he had seen her hurtle through the air like a wet sack.1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 214. From the entry extranormal
  • He inflated his chest, twirled his moustache, and thumped the table with a revulsion to thunderous indignation.1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, →OCLC, page 85. From the entry twirl
  • With a great thump on the table, Poirot demolished his carefully built up edifice.1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 165. From the entry edifice
  • The distant thump of the front door.2019, Ray Robinson, The Mating Habits of Stags, Lightning Books, →ISBN. From the entry badbye
  • The radiators thumped with steaming water, and a long stream of hissing air sounded miserably through the valves.2015, Thomas O'Malley, Douglas Graham Purdy, Serpents in the Cold, New York, N.Y. […]: Mulholland Books, →ISBN, page 81. From the entry mercy flush
  • In the distance, the music thumped, amping the crowd higher.2012, Natalie Anderson, First Time Lucky?, page 78. From the entry amp
  • In the 11th minute Theo Walcott drilled in a corner, and Olivier Giroud bulldozed through unopposed to thump the ball goalwards.2012 November 10, Amy Lawrence, “Fulham's Mark Schwarzer saves late penalty in dramatic draw at Arsenal”, in The Guardian, archived from…. From the entry bulldoze
  • And the moment it thumped into the net, Celtic’s march back to the top of the SPL pile also seemed unstoppable.2011 December 29, Keith Jackson, “SPL: Celtic 1 Rangers 0”, in Daily Record. From the entry pile
  • He hit the roof with a thump, letting go of Snider to throw his arms out and catch himself.2009, Alan Gratz, The Brooklyn Nine: A Novel in Nine Innings, Speak, Penguin Group, published 2010, →ISBN, page 268. From the entry hit the roof
  • I sang it through, "Rumpty tumpty toddy man," as Grandpa thumped his blackthorn stick against the floor and everyone laughed.2009, Patricia Reilly Giff, “chapter 6”, in Nory Ryan's Song. From the entry rumpty
  • To top off his disgusting behavior, he constantly picked his nose and thumped the waste in the air.2006, C. Lee Thornton, Oath of Office. From the entry disgusting
  • We got thumped," an American pilot was heard saying.2001 April 13, “Rumsfeld Hits China's 'Aggressive' Pattern”, in The New York Times, →ISSN. From the entry squirrelly
  • You have the usual kick, thump, jump and duck moves plus others depending on whether you're playing Haggar, Guy or Cody.1991, James Leach, Final Fight (game review in Your Sinclair issue 70). From the entry special move
  • Drums began to thump in a variety of rhythms.1985, Anthony Burgess, The Kingdom of the Wicked. From the entry skirl
  • Thump!’ said the drum of the Bures Silver Band.1949, J. Tey, Brat Farrar, page 228. From the entry silver band
  • He reached along the desk and thumped the call bell.1939, Raymond Chandler, “I'll be Waiting”, in Collected Stories of Raymond Chandler. From the entry call bell
  • Darren Bent slotted in a Stewart Downing cross to give Villa hope but that was ended when defender Nemanja Vidic thumped in United's third.2011 February 1, Mandeep Sanghera, “Man Utd 3 - 1 Aston Villa”, in BBC. From the entry slot in
  • The thump below was followed by an unbirdly squawk, and he scrambled to the edge of the loft and looked over the rail.2011, Roger Ladd Memmott, The Gypsy Lover, page 82. From the entry unbirdly
  • He thumped the purfled sound board.2003, Tom Robbins, Villa Incognito. From the entry purfle
  • He took the first one that broke and rolled his loop and forefooted the colt and it hit the ground with a tremendous thump.1992, Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses, →ISBN, page 106. From the entry forefoot
  • He uses a round slab of clay, which he places on top of the chum and commences to thump down around the sides.1920, The South African Journal of Industries, volume 3, part 2, p. 820. From the entry chum
  • And Van Persie fittingly had the final word with seconds to go by escaping Chelsea's defence once more to thump high past Cech in front of Arsenal's joyous supporters.2011 October 29, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 3 - 5 Arsenal”, in BBC Sport. From the entry fittingly
  • They had just sat down at the bridge table, and Mrs Lackersteen had just revoked out of pure nervousness, when there was a heavy thump on the roof.1934 October, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 22, in Burmese Days, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, Publishers…. From the entry revoke
  • The dismounted soldiers - mostly the rare Roman regular cavalry, with a number of auxiliary Gauls alongside - were shoulder-barging the door, which was shaking and cracking with each thump.2014 January 2, S.J.A. Turney, Marius' Mules VI: Caesar's Vow, Victrix Books, →ISBN. From the entry shoulder-barge
  • Some muties were so addled that they kept slurping at the runoff even though the hunt was storming past, the thumps and snaps of men firing clear in the air.1983, Gregory Benford, Against Infinity, New York, N.Y.: Avon Eos, published 1998, →ISBN, page 108. From the entry mutie

Meaning of thump

  1. noun A blow that produces a muffled sound.
  2. noun The sound of such a blow; a thud.
  3. noun Used to replace the vulgar or blasphemous element in "what the hell" and similar phrases.

Full definition of thump

Questions about thump in a sentence

How do you use thump in a sentence?
Thump is used as a noun and verb. For example: “Where the thump have you been?!”
What is a short sentence with thump?
“He thumped the purfled sound board.”
What does thump mean?
Thump means a blow that produces a muffled sound.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: thump (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this page: “How to use thump in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/thump. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.