Noun I sprang out of bed with a jolt. The car stopped with a jolt. I got quite a jolt when I heard the door slam. The defeat was quite a jolt to the team. The stock market suffered a major jolt yesterday. She needed a jolt of caffeine to start her day. The unexpected praise he received gave him a jolt of confidence. Verb The explosion jolted the ship. He was jolted forward when the bus stopped suddenly. The loud bang jolted me awake. The attack jolted the country into action. She jolted the medical world with her announcement. See More
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
That shot seemed to give Pliskova a jolt of energy and confidence.New York Times, 10 July 2021 The immediate impact came on a day when the Mets and the Yankees, both working their way through difficult weeks with games against division rivals, turned to top prospects to offer some lineup depth and a bit of a jolt.New York Times, 18 Aug. 2022 Fishermen in Massachusetts experienced a whale of a jolt after a massive humpback body slammed their boat. Sarah Rumpf, Fox News, 28 July 2022 Is dad a coffee aficionado — or just in need of a serious jolt of caffeine? Alesandra Dubin, Woman's Day, 12 June 2022 Two weeks later, the Blueshirts are in need of another jolt for an offense that's produced just one five-on-five goal in the last three games. Vincent Z. Mercogliano, USA TODAY, 10 June 2022 Neither Wright nor Cooley could be expected to provide the kind of jolt the Devils need now. Kevin Paul Dupont, BostonGlobe.com, 4 June 2022 Some kind of jolt within my brain pushed me to look beyond the four walls of my comfortable bedroom, to put myself in the shoes of those girls who were too poor to have a period. Amika George, Washington Post, 25 May 2022 But with less than two minutes left, Connecticut was down nine points and in desperate need of a jolt. Lila Bromberg, Hartford Courant, 24 May 2022
Verb
Friday’s assault on Rushdie at Chautauqua should jolt us into acknowledging that the presumption of danger has become the norm for many writers. Ron Charles, Washington Post, 15 Aug. 2022 Turbulence, which causes planes to suddenly jolt while in flight, is considered a fairly normal occurrence and nothing to fear. Gina Martinez, CBS News, 8 Aug. 2022 The 59-year-old aims to change that and hopes the recent turmoil caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will jolt European leaders into action. Frank Jordans, Orlando Sentinel, 23 June 2022 Democrats are hopeful that the possibility of Roe being overturned will jolt their voters into action. Daniel Strauss, The New Republic, 6 May 2022 Investors hoping a strong start to earnings season would jolt the stock market from its slump haven’t gotten much satisfaction. Karen Langley And Pia Singh, WSJ, 17 July 2022 Occasionally the rock masses on either side of these faults jolt against each other instead of sliding slowly, leading to what are called strike-slip earthquakes. Sasha Warren, Scientific American, 24 June 2022 Its energetic photons can jolt electrons, liberating them and producing holes. Frank Wilczek, WSJ, 19 May 2022 The epicenter was about 78 miles west of the capital of Port-au-Prince, the US Geological Survey said, and aftershocks continued to jolt the area Sunday.BostonGlobe.com, 15 Aug. 2021 See More
Word History
Etymology
Verb and Noun
probably blend of obsolete joll to strike and jot to bump