as in bursts
a sudden intense expression of strong feeling
the audience responded to the comedian's joke with gales of laughter
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Recent Examples of gales
Fifty years ago this month, the gales of November swallowed the SS Edmund Fitzgerald along with her crew of 29 men, one of the largest ships to go down on Lake Superior and the Great Lakes.
—
Sarah Moore, Freep.com, 4 Nov. 2025
The threat of thunderstorms, gales, and violent lightning led to the cancellation of the final day of SailGP competition in Saint-Tropez.
—Andrew Rice, New York Times, 13 Sep. 2025
Southern China also shuts down Southern China’s Hainan Island saw heavy rainfall and gales as the typhoon brushed past the island on Sunday.
—Miranda Jeyaretnam, Time, 25 Aug. 2025
Strong winds were also a concern in areas where residents are accustomed to heavy rain, but not necessarily cyclone-strength gales.
—Hilary Whiteman, CNN, 4 Mar. 2025
The front will have strong north to northeast winds behind it and prompt development of gales offshore of Tampico, Mexico through early Friday morning creating peak seas with 12- to 14-foot waves.
—Richard Tribou, Orlando Sentinel, 13 Feb. 2025
Winter gales and ice were a constant threat.
—Marianne Mather, Chicago Tribune, 19 Dec. 2024
Nuclear power plants have increasingly been seen as a carbon pollution-free source of electricity that can fill in for solar and wind farms when the sun sets and gales weaken.
—Justine Calma, The Verge, 4 Dec. 2024
Slowly the mystical land enters her inner world and – one day at a time – Rona finds hope and strength in herself among the heavy gales and the bracingly cold sea.
—Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 4 Oct. 2024
Sarah Moore, Freep.com, 4 Nov. 2025
The threat of thunderstorms, gales, and violent lightning led to the cancellation of the final day of SailGP competition in Saint-Tropez.
—Andrew Rice, New York Times, 13 Sep. 2025
Southern China also shuts down Southern China’s Hainan Island saw heavy rainfall and gales as the typhoon brushed past the island on Sunday.
—Miranda Jeyaretnam, Time, 25 Aug. 2025
Strong winds were also a concern in areas where residents are accustomed to heavy rain, but not necessarily cyclone-strength gales.
—Hilary Whiteman, CNN, 4 Mar. 2025
The front will have strong north to northeast winds behind it and prompt development of gales offshore of Tampico, Mexico through early Friday morning creating peak seas with 12- to 14-foot waves.
—Richard Tribou, Orlando Sentinel, 13 Feb. 2025
Winter gales and ice were a constant threat.
—Marianne Mather, Chicago Tribune, 19 Dec. 2024
Nuclear power plants have increasingly been seen as a carbon pollution-free source of electricity that can fill in for solar and wind farms when the sun sets and gales weaken.
—Justine Calma, The Verge, 4 Dec. 2024
Slowly the mystical land enters her inner world and – one day at a time – Rona finds hope and strength in herself among the heavy gales and the bracingly cold sea.
—Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 4 Oct. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for gales
Noun
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Fortunately, Marty, posing as a federal agent here to arrest Lee for harassment, bursts through the One Well doors in the nick of time.—
Amanda Whiting,
Vulture,
5 Nov. 2025
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These collisions unleash bursts of energy, allowing physicists to explore the most fundamental building blocks of the universe.—
Georgina Jedikovska,
Interesting Engineering,
4 Nov. 2025
Noun
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These meteors are particularly known for being rich in fireballs, illuminating the sky with large explosions of light and color, and can produce about five meteors an hour at their peak.—
Maia Pandey,
jsonline.com,
3 Nov. 2025
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It’s most often seen in people who play sports like football, hockey and soccer, but it’s also been detected in the brains of soldiers who have been injured in explosions and in some people who experienced domestic violence.—
Jen Christensen,
CNN Money,
30 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Residents can look for wind gusts of up to 40 mph.—
NC Weather Bot,
Charlotte Observer,
8 Nov. 2025
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West northwest wind 9 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.—
John Tufts,
IndyStar,
7 Nov. 2025
Noun
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These outbursts send radiation and charged particles hurling into space and can disrupt communications on Earth if the flare erupts from an Earth-facing sunspot.—
Daisy Dobrijevic,
Space.com,
5 Nov. 2025
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Musk, whose partisan outbursts reportedly cost Tesla one million sales, remains the world’s wealthiest person, and could become the first-ever trillionaire.—
Allison Morrow,
CNN Money,
30 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Historically, volcanic eruptions have blasted millions of tons of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere.—
Chris Young,
Interesting Engineering,
30 Oct. 2025
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These vast eruptions hurl immense clouds of magnetized plasma from the sun's corona into interplanetary space, sometimes at millions of miles per hour.—
Kenna Hughes-Castleberry,
Space.com,
29 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Among the first to draw the camera flashes were Cindy Crawford and Kaia Gerber, the ultimate mother-daughter duo, both in custom Gucci gowns.—
Ryma Chikhoune,
Footwear News,
2 Nov. 2025
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Already one of the best perimeter defenders in the league, the 6-foot-7 swingman, still just 22, has exhibited flashes of potency on the other end of the court.—
Alex Kirschenbaum,
MSNBC Newsweek,
31 Oct. 2025
Noun
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But some experts warn that what’s happening in Hatteras could be a glimpse of what’s to come in other coastal areas as climate change fuels more powerful storms and hastens erosion.—
Samantha Delouya,
CNN Money,
7 Nov. 2025
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Most of these stronger storms will be east of I-65 across south central Kentucky.—
Katie Wiseman,
Louisville Courier Journal,
7 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Gales.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/gales. Accessed 8 Nov. 2025.
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