365 New Words a Year [Merriam Webster] (Workman Publishing) 8/28/7: fulminate

fulminate v 1: to utter or send out with denunciation 2: to send forth censures or invectives

The DYK says that the origins of this word are in "Latin fulminare, meaning 'to strike', and usually referred to lightning strikes—not surprising since it came from fulmen, the Latin word for 'lightning'. When 'fulminate' came into English in the 15th century, it lost much of its spark and was used largely as a technical term for the issuing of formal denunciations by ecclesiastical authorities. But its original use remains in its suggestion of tirades so vigorous that, as one 18th-century bishop put it, they seem to be delivered 'with the air of one who [has] divine Vengeance at his disposal.'" Rating 8/10 archdiocese.