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Added 9 October 2026

rumble

/ˈɹʌmb(ə)l/ noun

Categories: ActionsThingsRare Words

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about rumble at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

  1. A low, heavy, continuous sound, such as that of thunder or a hungry stomach.
    The rumble from passing trucks made it hard to sleep at night.
  2. A street fight or brawl.
  3. A rotating cask or box in which small articles are smoothed or polished by friction against each other.

verb

  1. To make a low, heavy, continuous sound.
    If I don't eat, my stomach will rumble.
  2. To discover deceitful or underhanded behaviour.
    The police is going to rumble your hideout.
  3. To move while making a rumbling noise.
    The truck rumbled over the rough road.

interjection

  1. An onomatopoeia describing a rumbling noise

Origin

From Middle English rumblen, romblen, rummelyn, frequentative form of romen (“to roar”), equivalent to rome + -le. Cognate with Dutch rommelen (“to rumble”), Low German rummeln (“to rumble”), German rumpeln (“to be noisy”), Danish rumle (“to rumble”), all of imitative origin. Compare typologically Russian громи́ть (gromítʹ), погро́м (pogróm), разгро́м (razgróm) (akin to гром (grom), греме́ть (gremétʹ), громыха́ть (gromyxátʹ)). Also compare гро́хнуть (gróxnutʹ) (akin to гро́хот (gróxot)).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

Related Words: grumblegrowlgrumblingroarbrawlscuffletussletroublebeatfightmelee

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