bloat

adjective

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\ ˈblōt

Definition of bloat

(Entry 1 of 3)

: bloated, puffy

bloat

verb

bloated; bloating; bloats

Definition of bloat (Entry 2 of 3)

transitive verb

1a : to make turgid or swollen

b : to cause abdominal distension in

2 : to fill to capacity or overflowing

intransitive verb

: swell

bloat

noun

Definition of bloat (Entry 3 of 3)

1a : one that is bloated

b : unwarranted or excessive growth or enlargement bureaucratic bloat

2 : digestive disturbance of ruminant animals and especially cattle marked by accumulation of gas in one or more stomach compartments

3 : a condition of large dogs marked by distension and usually life-threatening rotation of the stomach

Examples of bloat in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb As is often the case, the scale of the obsession (as well as the responding compulsions) can bloat and expand over time. — Sadhbh O'sullivan, refinery29.com, 15 Oct. 2021 But that was four years ago, so inflation should bloat those projections a little. — Omar Kelly, sun-sentinel.com, 11 June 2021 The compromised hermetic seal may affect can integrity and may cause the cans to leak, bloat or allow bacteria to grow inside the product which could lead to serious illness. — Mike Wehner, BGR, 18 May 2021 Apple’s macOS does tend to produce a lot of log files and system caches that can bloat and take up a lot of storage space. — Mark Sparrow, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2021 Timothy has claimed to federal agents and a grand jury that Williams, through Burdett, pressured him to bloat the business write-offs. — Drew Broach | Staff Writer, NOLA.com, 8 Jan. 2021 At the center of the government’s case is an allegation that Williams, through Burdett, ordered the tax preparer to bloat Williams' business deductions by more than $700,000 over five years, reducing his tax liability by about $200,000. — John Simerman, NOLA.com, 25 Nov. 2020 Windows Update will still tend to bloat up the operating system pretty rapidly, and the SxS directory in particular still balloons with legacy versions of code that has been replaced in security upgrades. — Jim Salter, Ars Technica, 26 June 2020 There’s a herd of dinosaur mobs, bloated with essence, between you and the three-vs-three teamfight. — Cecilia D'anastasio, Wired, 27 May 2020 Recent Examples on the Web: Noun After years of criticizing colleges for intellectual inertia, political bias, and administrative bloat, Bari Weiss, Niall Ferguson, and other writers and dissident scholars announced plans for a new educational institution. — Samuel Goldman, The Week, 9 Nov. 2021 Americans might eat ramen like it’s dinner-party food, lingering over their bowl for what seems like hours as the noodles languish and bloat. — Nina Li Coomes, The Atlantic, 31 Oct. 2021 It’s always a relief to see a streaming drama that both deploys standalone stories in its episodes and is proficient at telling them, which avoids the kind of narrative bloat that tends to infect a lot of Netflix series. — Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 15 Nov. 2021 For all three, the primary motivation seems to be the belief that corporate bloat has been dragging down performance. — Kevin Dowd, Forbes, 14 Nov. 2021 That prompted the reboot with Andrew Garfield and director Marc Webb, which suffered from the same sense of bloat and creative anonymity, which ultimately drove Sony to its unprecedented partnership to make Spider-Man movies with Marvel Studios. — Adam B. Vary, Variety, 11 Nov. 2021 The frigid lake is too cold for certain bacteria to grow—the same bacteria that make a body’s internal organs bloat during decomposition and float to the surface. — Rachael Lallensack, Smithsonian Magazine, 29 Oct. 2021 There is definitely some unnecessary bloat in there. — Luther Abel, National Review, 20 June 2021 Craig had to earn that from the Eon-Fleming production machine constructed to efficiently spit out human-relationship-free widgets whose grosses would still dependably triple their budgets, even during the bloat of the Pierce Brosnan years. — Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times, 10 Oct. 2021

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