bomb

noun

\ ˈbäm

Definition of bomb

(Entry 1 of 2)

1a : 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

7a British : a great success : hit

b slang : one that is striking or extraordinary —used with the their new album is the bomb

8a : 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

verb

bombed; bombing; bombs

Definition of bomb (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

1 : to attack with or as if with bombs : bombard The planes successfully bombed their target. a bombed village

2a : 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

Other Words from bomb Synonyms & Antonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about bomb

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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

This was helpful for Manya C., 53, who was sitting in the bleachers across the street from where the first of two bombs exploded at the Boston Marathon in 2013. — Carolyn L. Todd, SELF, "How to Be There for Someone Who Survived a Horrible Trauma," 1 Apr. 2019 One issue this creates: air forces can no longer hang missiles, bombs, and fuel tanks off the wings of stealth aircraft, instead hiding them inside internal bays built into the fuselage. — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, "A New Weapons Rack Just Increased the F-35’s Missiles by 50 Percent," 3 May 2019 Marie Claire editors readily volunteered to try out CBD tinctures, patches, masks, and bath bombs and report back on their results. — The Editors, Marie Claire, "10 Health Issues CBD Could Solve," 17 Apr. 2019 In each match, up to 12 ships battle on an ocean map with naval gunfire, bombs, and torpedoes. — Gordon Mah Ung, PCWorld, "World of Warships dives deep for new players, adding submarines to popular naval combat game," 18 Sep. 2018 The call, punctuated by f-bombs and drops in cell coverage, highlights the tense minutes Jordan was trapped in the tree, desperately clinging to the limb. — Alex Horton, Anchorage Daily News, "An alligator trapped a teenage girl in a tree. Then a deputy arrived with an AR-15.," 4 July 2018 Using smoke bombs and angle grinders, two heavily armed men entered the visitor’s center, where Faid was meeting his brother, and escorted him back to the helicopter. — Hallie Detrick, Fortune, "That Dramatic Helicopter Prison Escape Was Inspired by the Man Who Brought You 'Miami Vice'," 3 July 2018 Regime and Russian war crimes have killed hundreds of thousands of civilians, whose death by barrel bombs and poison gas can be viewed on YouTube. — Trudy Rubin, Philly.com, "New Holocaust Museum exhibit reminds of how U.S. rejected desperate refugees before | Trudy Rubin," 3 July 2018 The exceptions are trick and novelty items like smoke bombs and sparklers. — Sarah Brookbank, Cincinnati.com, "Lighting Fourth of July fireworks at home? See what's legal in Ohio, Kentucky," 2 July 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

Tensions have cooled between India and Pakistan since February, when Pakistani jihadists bombed an Indian paramilitary convoy in Kashmir and killed at least 40 Indian soldiers. — The Editorial Board, WSJ, "China Shields a Jihadist," 15 Mar. 2019 In 1942, shortly after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, Ted Bell left his college in Idaho and joined the United States Marine Corps. — Chuck Thompson, Popular Mechanics, "The State of American Trade Schools," 13 Mar. 2019 In 1935, General George S. Patton bombed Hawaii’s Mauna Loa volcano to stop a lava eruption. — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, "Sweden Dropped a Laser-Guided Bomb on a Forest Fire," 25 July 2018 In 1986, after Qaddafi triggered an attack on a disco in Berlin, American jets bombed a tent where he was believed to be staying and killed, among others, a baby girl, purportedly his daughter. — Dexter Filkins, New York Times, "Why Libya Continues to Burn," 18 May 2018 Last April, the United States bombed the Shayrat air base in the province of Homs in retaliation for a sarin gas attack that killed around 70 people in the northern town of Khan Sheikhoun. — Author: Louisa Loveluck, Liz Sly, Anchorage Daily News, "Assad is defiant as US-led strikes in Syria show no sign of threatening his hold on power," 15 Apr. 2018 Rory McIlroy bombed a drive over the bunker at one at converted his birdie attempt. — Daniel Rapaport, SI.com, "Masters Round 1 Live Blog: Tracking Tiger Woods and All the Action on Thursday," 5 Apr. 2018 Many of President Trump’s biggest supporters in the media world are slamming his decision to bomb Syria on Friday, describing the move as a betrayal of his campaign promises to avoid entangling the US in more foreign conflicts as president. — Zeeshan Aleem, Vox, "Trump’s America First media allies think he has betrayed them with the Syria strike," 15 Apr. 2018 Putin has taken over Crimea and bombed Syria where women and children have lost their lives. — Elgin Courier-News, "Speak Out: Hair salon tour for Kim, Trump," 27 Mar. 2018

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

History and Etymology for bomb

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.