reverse lightning
- noun
- Specialized
:
rayo inverso
- Scientists observed reverse lightning shooting upward from the thunderstorm during the experiment.
Examples
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Photographs captured the moment when reverse lightning illuminated the night sky above the city.
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Scientists captured a rare instance of reverse lightning last night.
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Researchers study reverse lightning to understand its role in the Earth's electrical system.
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The reverse lightning phenomenon amazed the crowd of storm watchers.
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Scientists observed reverse lightning shooting upward from the thunderstorm during the experiment.
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Photographs captured the moment when reverse lightning illuminated the night sky above the city.
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The reverse lightning phenomenon amazed the crowd of storm watchers.
Synonyms
9
9.9
A rare blue lightning that shoots up from storm clouds
1
9.9
Bright blue electric flashes that shoot up from thundercloud tops into the upper sky
Surface Forms
Morphology
The term is directly compositional: 'reverse' (opposite/turned backward) combined with 'lightning' yields the literal idea of lightning occurring in the opposite direction, which a B1 learner would plausibly interpret as upward or reversed lightning. This is a descriptive, non-idiomatic name for a physical phenomenon, so the meaning is derivable from the constituents.
Etymology
Reverse lightning comes from a clear image: instead of normal lightning that flashes down from clouds to the ground, this rare flash shoots up from the top of a storm in a blue cone that widens as it rises. Because the word reverse points to the 'opposite' direction—'upward' rather than 'downward'—the name helps you remember it is lightning moving the other way.