English Explanatory Dictionary

brutum fulmen

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A judgement without effect.
  2. An empty threat.

Word forms

brutum fulmen bruta fulmina fulmen brutum

Etymology

From Latin brutum (“stupid”) + fulmen (“lightning”), derived from a 1680 pamphlet by Thomas Barlow of that title, originally from a passage of Pliny's Natural History: "hinc bruta fulmina et vana" ("these senseless and ineffectual thunder-claps", intended as a literal description of lightning).

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