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
The weather in Wales was terrible, with snow and freezing temperatures and Arctic gales.
—
Christine Smallwood,
Harpers Magazine,
24 Mar. 2026
Out in the ferocious gales of the North Sea, on the overcrowded routes of the Irish Sea and the English Channel, and off to the islands’ west, the wide Atlantic herself.
—
Literary Hub,
19 Nov. 2025
Such physical effects of wind are translatable; and so, most important of all, are the quarters from which the blasts or the breezes or the gales appear to come.
—
Big Think,
18 Nov. 2025
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
Christine Smallwood,
Harpers Magazine,
24 Mar. 2026
Out in the ferocious gales of the North Sea, on the overcrowded routes of the Irish Sea and the English Channel, and off to the islands’ west, the wide Atlantic herself.
—
Literary Hub,
19 Nov. 2025
Such physical effects of wind are translatable; and so, most important of all, are the quarters from which the blasts or the breezes or the gales appear to come.
—
Big Think,
18 Nov. 2025
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for gales
Noun
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From Friday to Sunday, singers and alphorn players filled the streets and spontaneous bursts of yodeling echoed through restaurants, where diners initially reacted with surprise before joining in.
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San Francisco real estate agent Butch Haze of Compass has seen tech booms followed by ravenous bursts of homebuying since the first internet gold rush of the late 1990s.
Noun
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Multiple explosions were heard in Kyiv, a Reuters witness said.
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Instead of focusing narrowly on one object at a time, the observatory will sweep across huge areas of sky, building an archive of stars, galaxies, asteroids and cosmic explosions.
Noun
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Wind gusts of up to 40 mph are forecast across the fire-danger zones, and relative humidity is expected to fall between 8% and 15%, meaning conditions are ripe for any new fires to rapidly spread.
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Severe wind gusts and intense lightning are possible with any storm that develops.
Noun
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Public outbursts remain relatively uncommon, making this week's intervention particularly revealing.
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There have been intermittent outbursts of violence against immigrants since then.
Noun
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Several of these eruptions were accompanied by coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that appear to be at least partially Earth-directed.
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The most powerful solar flares are X-class solar flares, and forecasters at NOAA observed one of these eruptions on Tuesday.
Noun
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Morel’s career arc had previously included flashes of legitimate middle-order production.
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Swift was originally designed to study a rare type of transient called gamma-ray bursts—seconds-long flashes of gamma-ray light that arise from the most energetic explosions in the universe.
Noun
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While rain coverage is expected to remain limited, any storms that develop could produce gusty winds, frequent lightning and locally heavy rainfall.
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While most areas will remain dry through the end of this week, there is a chance for weakening showers and storms over far northwestern Missouri each evening, the weather service said.
Cite this Entry
“Gales.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/gales. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.
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