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

According to a criminal complaint, Hasher Jallal Taheb planned to form an assault group armed with guns, homemade bombs, an antitank weapon and hand grenades. — The Editorial Board, WSJ, "A Bloody Month of Jihad," 17 Jan. 2019 While various threats, sometimes referencing bombs, accounted for 15 percent of lockdowns, and police manhunts near campuses made up a similar share, at least 61 percent of lockdowns were related to firearms. — John Woodrow Cox, The Seattle Times, "Numerous school lockdowns are traumatizing the nation’s children," 26 Dec. 2018 And in addition to homemade bombs, members have also begun discussing trying to find unexploded World War II ordnance to make improvised explosive devices. — Casey Newton, The Verge, "22 predictions for social media in 2019," 15 Dec. 2018 The podcast’s most recent episode is a deep dive into the creation of the nuclear bomb, which includes an exploration of the life of Albert Einstein. — Staff, The Christian Science Monitor, "Top Picks: PBS’s 'No Passport Required,' 'Oh Lucy!' on DVD and Blu-ray, and more," 6 July 2018 People who have seen the bombs, the conflict, people being killed – a lot of other things seem very frivolous to them. — Chuck Dauphin, Billboard, "Charlie Daniels Gives $100,000 to Veterans, Calls American Troops 'The Best Men and Women We Got'," 4 July 2018 Sparklers, snakes, smoke bombs, snaps and other similar things sold at stores like Publix and Walmart are perfectly legal as spelled out in state code. — Kyle Arnold, OrlandoSentinel.com, "Fireworks are illegal — but here's how Floridians get away with buying them," 3 July 2018 Then another man started shooting. 'Lava bomb' from Kilauea shatters a Hawaii man's leg. — Don Sweeney, sacbee, "Please don’t take selfies with the deadly molten lava, Hawaii authorities ask," 20 June 2018 While not an out-and-out bomb, Gotti's theatrical run is nevertheless endangered, save for those cinemas in seven locales where the film held its own. — Pamela Mcclintock, The Hollywood Reporter, "'Gotti': How John Travolta Tried — and Failed — to Save His Passion Project," 18 June 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

Other recent examples: In 2017, two Coptic churches were bombed during Palm Sunday processions. — Marlo Safi, WSJ, "Is Sisi Good for Egypt’s Christians?," 10 Jan. 2019 There is the long history of Potsdamer Platz, a busy intersection of traffic and trams — once home to Europe’s first traffic lights — that was bombed to rubble during World War II and was later unsympathetically divided by the wall. — Carolina A. Miranda, latimes.com, "What the dismantling of the Berlin Wall can teach us as Trump tries to build his wall," 21 June 2018 Paris alleges that Tehran’s intelligence internal security section is linked to an attempt to bomb a rally of the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran, or MEK, on June 30 outside the French capital. — Lorne Cook, The Seattle Times, "EU blacklists Iranian intel service over assassination plots," 8 Jan. 2019 Grover estimates up to 200 people were active in the Minutemen, breaking up Nazi meetings and even attempting to bomb German American Bund leader Fritz Kuhn’s car. — Eric Ginsburg, Teen Vogue, "American Nazis and Nazi Sympathizers Have Been Around Since the 1930’s," 26 Nov. 2018 With strategic bombing, the aim was relatively simple: instead of sending an aircraft to hit an artillery piece on the front line, it could be sent to bomb the factory that produced the artillery piece. — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, "Five Innovations to Emerge From the First World War," 11 Nov. 2018 Go easy on the spot treatments Yes, every fiber of your being wants to bomb your face with all the anti-acne creams and every beauty hack you’ve ever read — or at least reapply a spot treatment a zillion times throughout the day. — Beth Janes, Seventeen, "What to Do the *Second* a Pimple Appears," 7 Aug. 2018 An Arizona man was indicted for allegedly threatening on social media to bomb and shoot attendees at Harvard University’s Black Commencement ceremony last year, prosecutors announced Saturday. — Alana Levene, BostonGlobe.com, "Arizona man arrested for encouraging ‘violence and death’ at Harvard Black Commencement," 9 June 2018 In July, Germany foiled another Iranian plot to bomb dissidents in Paris. — The Editorial Board, WSJ, "Iran’s European Hit Squads," 30 Oct. 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.