Word.ws English Dictionary

stolen someone's thunder

stolen someone's thunder is the past participle of steal someone's thunder.

Meaning of steal someone's thunder

Verb

steal someone's thunder (third-person singular simple present steals someone's thunder, present participle stealing someone's thunder, simple past stole someone's thunder, past participle stolen someone's thunder)

  1. (idiomatic) To appropriate someone's ideas or information, typically in order to look better at that person's expense.
    • There are several upstarts, who, without the genius to invent a style, have been copying yours, and trying to steal your thunder.1855, Jno. E. Vought, “Editor's Table (letters)”, in The Knickerbocker: Or, New-York Monthly Magazine Volume 46, page 101
  2. (idiomatic) To detract from someone's accomplishments or glory; to undermine.
    • Can Your Competition Steal Your Thunder? Make sure that your competitors can't undermine your statement.2005, Walter McDowell, Alan Batten, Branding TV: Principles and Practices, →ISBN, page 116

Questions about stolen someone's thunder

What is stolen someone's thunder the past participle of?
Stolen someone's thunder is the past participle of steal someone's thunder.

Words near stolen someone's thunder in the dictionary

  1. stolen goods
  2. stolen in
  3. stolen one's thunder
  4. stolen shot
  5. stolen someone's identity
  6. stolen someone's thunder
  7. stolen the scene
  8. stolen the show
  9. stolen valor
  10. stolenness
  11. stolens

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: stolen someone's thunder (page history and authors); steal someone's thunder (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.

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