Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Wikipedia
A lightning strike is an electric discharge between the atmosphere and an earth-bound object. They mostly originate in a Cumulonimbus cloud and terminate on the ground, called cloud to ground (CG) lightning. A less common type of strike, called ground to cloud (GC), is upward propagating lightning initiated from a tall grounded object and reaches into the clouds. About 25% of all lightning events worldwide are strikes between the atmosphere and earth-bound objects. The bulk of lightning events are intracloud (IC) or cloud to cloud (CC), where discharges only occur high in the atmosphere.
A single lightning event is a "flash", which is a complex, multi-stage process, some parts of which are not fully understood. Most cloud to ground flashes only "strike" one physical location, referred to as a "termination". The primary conducting channel, the bright coursing light that may be seen and is called a "strike", is only about one inch in diameter, but because of its extreme brilliance, it often looks much larger to the human eye and in photographs. Lightning discharges are typically miles long, but certain types of horizontal discharges can be upwards of tens of miles in length. The entire flash lasts only a fraction of a second. Most of the early formative and propagation stages are much dimmer and not visible to the human eye.
Usage examples of "lightning strike".
There was a flash, and a booming clap, like a lightning strike, as the skrin went through.
For just that moment, envy flashed through Harvey Randall like a lightning strike.
Everything he had known for nearly his whole life seemed to be vaporized in an instant by the lightning strike of those words.
He raised his hand to knock and felt a strange sensation, as if he were near a lightning strike, causing the hair on his arms and scalp to stand up.
She had at least knocked the two women down with that lightning strike, and she had seen one of the soldiers, or his body rather, burn from the ball of fire she made and hurled at them.
The meteorological officer says that there's a lightning strike once every three or four seconds.
Barrie whimpered with the rush of desire, the familiar lightning strike from breast to loin.
Not as much as a good tree might, but he did not want to risk another lightning strike.