foudroyant

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French foudroyant.

Pronunciation

  • enPR: fo͞o-droi'ənt, IPA(key): /fuˈdɹɔɪənt/

Adjective

foudroyant (comparative more foudroyant, superlative most foudroyant)

  1. Having an awesome and overwhelming effect.
    • 1968, W. H. Auden, “The Horatians,” Collected Poems, Modern Library (2007), page 773:
      […] As makers go, / compared with Pindar or any / of the great foudroyant masters who don't ever / amend, we are, for all our polish, of little / stature […]

French

Etymology

From foudroyer.

Adjective

foudroyant (feminine singular foudroyante, masculine plural foudroyants, feminine plural foudroyantes)

  1. (figuratively) rapid
  2. (figuratively) devastating
  3. (medicine) fulminant; fatal, deadly (coming on quickly and destructively)
    Il a contracté une méningite foudroyante.
    He contracted a fulminant meningitis.

Verb

foudroyant

  1. present participle of foudroyer

Further reading

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