thump
/θʌmp/
thump noun: a blow that produces a muffled sound.
Noun
thump (plural thumps)
- A blow that produces a muffled sound.
- ... and so the universal thump is passed round, and all hands should rub each other’s shoulder-blades, and be content.1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 1
- The watchman gave so very great a thump at my door last night, that I awakened at the knock.1710 January 3 (Gregorian calendar), Isaac Bickerstaff [et al., pseudonyms; Richard Steele et al.], “Friday, December 24, 1709”, in The Tatler, number 111; republished in [Richard Steele], editor...
- The 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. Constructed in 1525, it is one of the oldest timepieces in England. It chimes the hours and the quarters, and every three hours it plays a hymn. But it has no faces.1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 163
- Used to replace the vulgar or blasphemous element in "what the hell" and similar phrases.
- Where the thump have you been?!
- Synonym of bump (“sudden movement of underground strata”).
- Synonyms:
- bump
Verb
thump (third-person singular simple present thumps, present participle thumping, simple past and past participle thumped)
- To hit (someone or something) as if to make a thump.
- These bastard Bretons, whom our fathers / Have in their own land beaten, bobb'd, and thump'd.c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- 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
- To cause to make a thumping sound.
- The cat thumped its tail in irritation.
- To thud or pound.
- To 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. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort...2013 June 29, “Travels and travails”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 55
- (of a rabbit) to hit the ground with the back legs to signal agitation.
thump meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Telugu and Malayalam
thump in Tamil
- to hit someone or something so as to make a thump
- குற்று kuṟṟu
- to thud or pound
- குற்று kuṟṟu, அவை avai
thump in Urdu
- تھپ تھپانا, ٹھونکنا
thump in Telugu
- a thump, cuff, box
- గుద్దు guddu
thump in Malayalam
- അടിയൊച്ച, പ്രകമ്പനം, കനത്ത വീഴ്ച, കാൽവെയ്പുകൾ
More languagesFewer languages
- thump in Kannada
- ತೂಕದ ಹೊಡೆತ
- thump in Assamese
- খুন্দিওৱা khundiüa
Examples of thump in a sentence
- My father punctuated his tirade with thumps on the desk.
- Instead she would thump her fist to defend Irish people from those speaking out against them.
- You're walking along and thump, there's a drop bear covering your head.
Synonyms of thump
Forms of thump
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | thumps |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | thumps |
| present participle | thumping |
| past participle | thumped |
| past | thumped |
Origin of thump
Mid 16th century, probably imitative.
Words formed from thump
Words that rhyme with thump
18 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about thump
- What does thump mean?
- Thump means a blow that produces a muffled sound.
- What is thump in Tamil?
- Thump in Tamil is குற்று (kuṟṟu), அவை (avai). See Thump meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is thump?
- Thump can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce thump?
- Thump is pronounced /θʌmp/.
- What is the plural of thump?
- The plural of thump is thumps.
Words near thump in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: thump (page history and authors); thump (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); గుద్దు (Telugu) (page history and authors); thump (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); thump (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); খুন্দিওৱা (Assamese) (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-thump.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-thump.wav.
Cite this entry: “thump.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/thump. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.