aftershock

noun

af·ter·shock | \ -ˌshäk

Definition of aftershock

1 : an aftereffect of a distressing or traumatic event

2 : a minor shock following the main shock of an earthquake

Examples of aftershock in a Sentence

The first aftershock came just minutes after the earthquake.

Recent Examples on the Web

In the other, 30 years later, the sister of his friend who died of the illness grapples with the aftershocks of loss. — Time Staff, Time, "22 New Books to Read This Summer," 22 May 2018 Besides dealing with the financial aftershocks of the attacks, Clarida also helped formulate the Bush administration's response to the Enron Corp. and WorldCom Inc. accounting scandals. — Bloomberg, latimes.com, "Trump to nominate Pimco's Richard Clarida as Federal Reserve vice chair," 16 Apr. 2018 The evening quake was followed by strong aftershocks. — Rosidin Sembahulun, Fox News, "Big quakes trigger landslides on Indonesia's Lombok island," 19 Aug. 2018 Randy Baldwin, a geophysicist with the USGS’ National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colorado, said the earthquakes all appeared to be aftershocks from the November temblor. — Amir Vahdat And Jon Gambrell, USA TODAY, "8 earthquakes strike along Iran-Iraq border, rattle Baghdad," 11 Jan. 2018 The vast majority of the aftershocks are too small to feel, Bellini said. — Rachel D'oro, The Seattle Times, "Alaska selfie-takers told to stay off quake-buckled road," 5 Dec. 2018 His entitlement and attendant behavior are what create the true seismic shifts within the house; the house’s paranormal utterances feel more like aftershocks. — Aja Romano, Vox, "How The Little Stranger uses its ghost story to mask a study in toxic masculinity," 6 Sep. 2018 The scale of the damage from the aftershock wasn't clear, but the two earlier quakes had left cracks in walls and roofs, making the weakened buildings susceptible to collapse. — Andi Jatmiko, Fox News, "Third strong earthquake shakes Lombok as death toll tops 220," 9 Aug. 2018 In one notable triumph, he was praised for helping shield China from the aftershocks of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, after which he was named party secretary of the booming island province of Hainan. — Washington Post, "‘Mr. Fix-It’: China’s new VP has tackled thorniest of crises," 18 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'aftershock.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.