chain lightning
- noun
- Jargon
:
rayo encadenado
- In the final battle, the wizard unleashed chain lightning that struck five enemies in sequence.
Examples
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The game's new update balances chain lightning so it no longer wipes out low-level groups.
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Our party's rogue feared entering the cavern after the sorcerer used chain lightning twice.
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The wizard cast chain lightning to defeat the group of enemies.
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Have you ever seen a chain lightning spell in action?
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During the fierce battle, the sorceress cast chain lightning, hitting multiple foes in rapid succession.
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The wizard's chain lightning spell struck the soldiers one after another, creating chaos in their ranks.
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In our last adventure, we watched as the mage unleashed chain lightning, devastating the enemy lines.
How Many Targets
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound transparently combines 'chain' (a linked series) with 'lightning' (an electrical flash), so a learner who knows both words can infer the general idea of lightning that links or jumps between things. However, the precise, conventionalized gaming sense — a single attack that hits one target and then arcs sequentially to nearby targets — is a specialized metaphorical extension and may not be fully predictable to a B1 learner without prior exposure.
Etymology
Chain lightning in games and stories was named for the picture of a spark that moves like a chain, striking one foe and then 'jumping' to the next. That's why it means 'a magical attack that hits one target and then jumps to nearby targets in order'.
