bomb

1 of 2

noun

ˈbäm 

1

a

: an explosive device fused to detonate under specified conditions

b

: atomic bomb

also : nuclear weapons in general

—usually used with the

2

: a vessel for compressed gases: such as

a

: a pressure vessel for conducting chemical experiments

b

: a container for an aerosol (such as an insecticide) : spray can

3

: a rounded mass of lava exploded from a volcano

4

: a lead-lined container for radioactive material

5

: failure, flop

the play was a bomb

6

British : a large sum of money

7

a

British : a great success : hit

b

slang : one that is striking or extraordinary

—used with the

their new album is the bomb

8

a

: a long pass in football

b

: a very long shot (as in basketball)

shooting 3-point bombs

also : home run

9

: something unexpected and unpleasant

—often used with drop

dropped a bomb with her resignation

bomb

2 of 2

verb

bombed; bombing; bombs

transitive verb

1

: to attack with or as if with bombs : bombard

The planes successfully bombed their target.

a bombed village

2

a

: to defeat decisively

b

baseball : to score many runs against (a pitcher)

Allen tried a new slider pitch without success and was bombed in Cincinnati.

—Jack Lang

3

: to hit (a ball, puck, or shot) very hard

bomb a home run

bomb a long drive down the fairway

4

slang : to fail (a test)

I bombed my history exam.

intransitive verb

1

informal : to fall flat : to fail completely

The movie bombed at the box office.

a joke that bombed

2

informal : to move rapidly

a car bombing down the hill

bombing noun

The city was subjected to heavy bombing during the war.

suicide bombings

Synonyms

Noun

• disaster
• failure
• catastrophe
• bust

Verb

• barrage
• flood
• bombard

Examples of bomb in a Sentence

Noun

A bomb went off downtown.

Many bombs were dropped on the city during the war.

They hid a bomb in the building.

countries that have the bomb

Verb

The city was heavily bombed during the war.

The planes flew 200 miles to bomb their target.

The movie bombed at the box office.

The play bombed on Broadway.

He bombed at his first performance.

I completely bombed my math exam.

A car was bombing down the highway.

teenagers bombing around in a convertible

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Basically, just a reminder that everybody bombs, basically. —Shania Russell, Entertainment Weekly, 29 Oct. 2025

This retired firefighter and bomb tech rose from the flames stronger, sassier, and ready to find a spark that lasts. —Jason Pham, StyleCaster, 29 Oct. 2025

Verb

Trump has often expressed verbal frustration with Putin, accusing him of making positive diplomatic noises before bombing Ukrainian civilians again, but until now had avoided taking direct action. —Alexander Smith, NBC news, 23 Oct. 2025

Several complaints, largely filed in Spanish, asked why they were locked up and bombed. —Julia Coin, Charlotte Observer, 23 Oct. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun

borrowed from Spanish or Italian bomba or French bombe, all probably in part from an onomatopoeic base bomb- (as in Greek bómbos "booming, humming," Old Norse bumba "drum," Lithuanian bambėti "to mutter, mumble," Albanian bumbullin "it is thundering"), in part back-formation from Medieval Latin bombardus or Middle French bombarde bombard entry 1

Note: The origin and transmission of bomba, bombe, etc., in the sense "explosive device, projectile, etc.," among European languages is not certain. Bomba is attested earliest in Spanish, appearing several times in the second half of the 16th century (canto 18 of La Araucana of Alonso de Ercilla y Zúñiga, the Descripción general de África of Luis del Mármol, the Historia de las cosas … del Gran Reyno de la China of Juan González de Mendoza). Mendoza's book (1585) is the source of an early and aberrant instance of bomb in English: his bombas de fuego is rendered as "bomes of fire" in Robert Parke's translation (The Historie of the Great and Mightie Kingdome of China, London, 1588, p. 65). Bomba is recorded as Italian in Antoine Oudin's Italian-French dictionary (Recherches italiennes et françoises, Paris, 1640), where it is glossed "bombe, ou balon de feu" ("bomb, or ball of fire"), though it is not recorded in an Italian text until 1686 (Paolo Segneri, Il cristiano instruito, Florence, p. 327); Oudin's gloss also apparently constitutes the first record in French. Significantly earlier than any of these is Latin bombus, which occurs twice in the Commentarii, an account of the exploits of the condottiere Jacopo Piccinino in 1452-53 by the Neapolitan humanist Giannantonio de' Pandone, "il Porcellio" (ca. 1405-85); Pandone's bombus appears to be some sort of exploding projectile ("Hic Tibertus Dux bombi fulmine in ulna sauciatur" - "Here Tibertus [the condottiere Tiberto Brandolini] was wounded in the forearm by the flash of a bombus"); the 18th-century lexicographer Du Cange, in Glossarium mediae et infimae Latinitatis, glosses bombus in this passage, alluding to French bombe, as pila incendiaria, "fireball." Spanish bomba in the sense "pump," attested from the early 16th century, is probably an independent formation; cf. pump entry 1.

Verb

derivative of bomb entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

1662, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

1688, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Phrases Containing bomb

• A-bomb
• atomic bomb
• bomb cyclone
• bomb scare
• bomb site
• bomb squad
• bomb threat
• buzz bomb
• car bomb
• carpet bomb
• cherry bomb
• cluster bomb
• dirty bomb
• dive-bomb
• drop a bomb
• drop the bomb
• f-bomb
• flying bomb
• fragmentation bomb
• go down/like a bomb
• H-bomb
• hydrogen bomb
• letter bomb
• logic bomb
• neutron bomb
• parcel bomb
• petrol bomb
• pipe bomb
• review bomb
• skip bomb
• smoke bomb
• stink bomb
• suicide bomb
• the bomb
• time bomb

Rhymes for bomb

• balm
• bom
• calm
• dom
• halm
• hom
• malm
• mam
• mom
• palm
• pom
• pomme

Kids Definition

bomb

1 of 2 noun

ˈbäm 

1

a

: an explosive device that has a fuse and is designed to go off under any of various conditions

b

: atomic bomb

also : nuclear weapons in general

—usually used with the

2

: a container in which a substance (as an insecticide) is stored under pressure and from which it is released in a fine spray

3

: flop entry 2 sense 2

bomb

2 of 2 verb

1

: to attack with bombs

2

informal : to fail completely

the movie bombed