Library / English Dictionary

THUD

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: thudded    , thudding   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A heavy dull sound (as made by impact of heavy objects)

Synonyms:

clump; clunk; thud; thump; thumping

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("thud" is a kind of...):

sound (the sudden occurrence of an audible event)

Derivation:

thud (strike with a dull sound)

thud (make a dull sound)

thud (make a noise typical of an engine lacking lubricants)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Strike with a dull sound

Example:

Bullets were thudding against the wall

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "thud" is one way to...):

collide with; hit; impinge on; run into; strike (hit against; come into sudden contact with)

Sentence frames:

Something is ----ing PP
Something ----s something

Derivation:

thud (a heavy dull sound (as made by impact of heavy objects))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make a dull sound

Example:

the knocker thudded against the front door

Synonyms:

thud; thump

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Hypernyms (to "thud" is one way to...):

go; sound (make a certain noise or sound)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

thud (a heavy dull sound (as made by impact of heavy objects))

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make a noise typical of an engine lacking lubricants

Synonyms:

crump; scrunch; thud

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Hypernyms (to "thud" is one way to...):

crackle; crunch; scranch; scraunch (make a crushing noise)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

thud (a heavy dull sound (as made by impact of heavy objects))

Credits

 Context examples: 

A few minutes later he was disturbed by a gentle creaking of his own door, as though some one were pushing cautiously against it, and immediately afterwards he heard the soft thud of cautious footsteps upon the stair which led to the room above, followed by a confused noise and a muffled groan.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A passenger who passed Aldgate in an ordinary Metropolitan train about 11:40 on Monday night declares that he heard a heavy thud, as of a body striking the line, just before the train reached the station.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There is no lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of a drunkard’s blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is but a step between the crime and the dock.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And then suddenly, with a crashing and a rending, a thudding of giant feet and a panting of monster lungs the beast was upon me once more.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Thud! thud!

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Long time he stood, half hoping that she might again come back to him; but the thud of the hoofs had died away, and there was no sound in all the woods but the gentle rustle and dropping of the leaves.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Fly as they would the fugitives were too slow to escape from the active savages, and from every side in the tangled woods we heard the exultant yells, the twanging of bows, and the crash and thud as ape-men were brought down from their hiding-places in the trees.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Sometimes, with a snap and a thud, one axle would come to the ground, whilst a wheel reeled off amidst the tussocks of heather, and roars of delight greeted the owners as they looked ruefully at the ruin.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The deep shout of Du Guesclin, the hard, hissing breath of the pressing multitude, the clatter of steel, the thud of falling bodies, and the screams of the stricken, made up such a medley as came often in after years to break upon Alleyne's sleep.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The hard brown beetles kept thudding against the dull light and whenever Michaelis heard a car go tearing along the road outside it sounded to him like the car that hadn't stopped a few hours before.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)