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“Lightening” or “Lightning”

Overview

lightening / lightning are similar-sounding terms with different meanings (referred to as homophones). To better understand the differences, see below for definitions, pronunciation guides, and example sentences using each term. 👇

Definitions

lightening: (noun) descent of the uterus into the pelvic cavity that occurs late in pregnancy; the fetus is said to have dropped.

lightning: (noun) abrupt electric discharge from cloud to cloud or from cloud to earth accompanied by the emission of light. (noun) the flash of light that accompanies an electric discharge in the atmosphere (or something resembling such a flash); can scintillate for a second or more.

Pronunciation

lightening: l·AY·t·ah·n·ih·ng

lightning: l·AY·t·n·ih·ng

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Examples in Context

Examples of “lightening”

  • …the pindu is solid black, lightening when breeding and even more…
  • …decomposes into a small two-tailed "Lightening Marten" and a paper Prince…

Examples of “lightning”

  • …such as waves, sea breeze, lightning, thunders, earthquakes, and wildlife congregations.
  • …Howlin' Wolf recording of "Smokestack Lightning" was selected for a Grammy…
  • Cloud-to-ground lightning
  • Sprite lightning
  • …Tornado and Air Commodore, F35B Lightning
  • Lightning raids begin across the country…
  • …clouds are illuminated by large lightning discharges.
  • Heat lightning, also known as silent lightning,…
  • Heat lightning
  • …pursuing Veles, attacking with his lightning bolts from the sky.


(Examples are Wikipedia snippets under the CC ShareAlike 3.0 license. Definitions drawn from WordNet.)


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