Main Difference
The main difference between Lightning and Thunderbolt is that the Lightning is a atmospheric discharge of electricity and Thunderbolt is a symbolic representation of lightning
Lightning vs. Thunderbolt
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Lightning
Lightning is a sudden electrostatic discharge that occurs typically during a thunderstorm. This discharge occurs between electrically charged regions of a cloud (called intra-cloud lightning or IC), between two clouds (CC lightning), or between a cloud and the ground (CG lightning).
The charged regions in the atmosphere temporarily equalize themselves through this discharge referred to as a flash. A lightning flash can also be a strike if it involves an object on the ground. Lightning creates light in the form of black body radiation from the very hot plasma created by the electron flow, and sound in the form of thunder. Lightning may be seen and not heard when it occurs at a distance too great for the sound to carry as far as the light from the strike or flash.
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Thunderbolt
A thunderbolt or lightning bolt is a symbolic representation of lightning when accompanied by a loud thunderclap. In Indo-European mythology, the thunderbolt was identified with the 'Sky Father'; this association is also found in later Hellenic representations of Zeus and Vedic descriptions of the vajra wielded by the god Indra. It may have been a symbol of cosmic order, as expressed in the fragment from Heraclitus describing "the Thunderbolt that steers the course of all things".In its original usage the word may also have been a description of the consequences of a close approach between two planetary cosmic bodies, as Plato suggested in Timaeus, or, according to Victor Clube, meteors, though this is not currently the case. As a divine manifestation the thunderbolt has been a powerful symbol throughout history, and has appeared in many mythologies. Drawing from this powerful association, the thunderbolt is often found in military symbolism and semiotic representations of electricity.
Wikipedia
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Lightning (noun)
A flash of light produced by short-duration, high-voltage discharge of electricity within a cloud, between clouds, or between a cloud and the earth.
"Although we did not see the lightning, we did hear the thunder."
Lightning (noun)
A discharge of this kind.
"The lightning was hot enough to melt the sand."
"That tree was hit by lightning."
Lightning (noun)
Anything that moves very fast.
Lightning (noun)
The act of making bright, or the state of being made bright; enlightenment; brightening, as of the mental powers.
Lightning (adjective)
Extremely fast or sudden.
Lightning (adjective)
Moving at the speed of lightning.
Lightning (verb)
To produce lightning.
Thunderbolt (noun)
A flash of lightning accompanied by a crash of thunder.
Thunderbolt (noun)
An event that is terrible, horrific or unexpected.
Thunderbolt (noun)
Vehement threatening or censure; especially, ecclesiastical denunciation; fulmination.
Thunderbolt (noun)
A very powerful shot.
Thunderbolt (noun)
A belemnite, or thunderstone.
Thunderbolt (noun)
A charge in the form of two joined bundles with four rays of lightning emerging from them, resembling the thunderbolt of Jupiter.
Thunderbolt (noun)
A daring or irresistible hero.
Wiktionary
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Lightning (noun)
A discharge of atmospheric electricity, accompanied by a vivid flash of light, commonly from one cloud to another, sometimes from a cloud to the earth. The sound produced by the electricity in passing rapidly through the atmosphere constitutes thunder.
Lightning (noun)
The act of making bright, or the state of being made bright; enlightenment; brightening, as of the mental powers.
Lightning
Lightening.
Thunderbolt (noun)
A shaft of lightning; a brilliant stream of electricity passing from one part of the heavens to another, or from the clouds to the earth.
Thunderbolt (noun)
Something resembling lightning in suddenness and effectiveness.
Thunderbolt (noun)
Vehement threatening or censure; especially, ecclesiastical denunciation; fulmination.
Thunderbolt (noun)
A belemnite, or thunderstone.
Webster Dictionary
Lightning (noun)
abrupt electric discharge from cloud to cloud or from cloud to earth accompanied by the emission of light
Lightning (noun)
the flash of light that accompanies an electric discharge in the atmosphere (or something resembling such a flash); can scintillate for a second or more
Thunderbolt (noun)
a discharge of lightning accompanied by thunder
Thunderbolt (noun)
a shocking surprise;
"news of the attack came like a bombshell"
Princeton's WordNet
Lightning Illustrations
Thunderbolt Illustrations
