clobber

1 of 2

noun

clob·​ber ˈklä-bər 

British slang

: clothes sense 1

clobber

2 of 2

verb

clobbered; clobbering ˈklä-b(ə-)riŋ 

transitive verb

1

: to pound mercilessly

also : to hit with force

clobber a home run

2

a

: to defeat overwhelmingly

b

: to have a strongly negative impact on

businesses clobbered by the recession

c

: to criticize harshly

Synonyms

Noun

• apparel
• attire
• clothes
• clothing
• costumery
• dress
• duds
• garments
• gear
• habiliment(s)
• habit [archaic]
• rags
• raiment
• rig
• rigging
• threads
• toggery
• togs
• vestiary
• vestments
• vesture
• wear
• wearables
• weeds

Verb

• bang
• bash
• bat
• belt
• biff
• bludgeon
• bob
• bonk
• bop
• box
• bust
• clap
• clip
• clock
• clout
• crack
• hammer
• hit
• knock
• nail
• paste
• pound
• punch
• rap
• slam
• slap
• slog
• slug
• smack
• smite
• sock
• strike
• swat
• swipe
• tag
• thump
• thwack
• wallop
• whack
• whale
• zap

Examples of clobber in a Sentence

Noun

Just dump your clobber anywhere.

still wearing the same clobber he wore as an undergrad at Cambridge

Verb

If you say anything I'll clobber you.

We clobbered them in our last game.

Businesses are being clobbered by the bad economy.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

He was dressed in shorts, T-shirt and boots and his black-tie clobber was in a car miles away in Marseilles. —Baz Bamigboye, Deadline, 25 May 2025

Juno Temple’s character Dot nearly clobbers Gator with a nail bat — an object often associated with your Stranger Things character Steve Harrington — during their Halloween brawl in episode 4. —EW.com, 7 June 2024

Verb

Watching people getting clobbered with mops, or Stitch making messes and starting fires at the open-air beach resort where Nani works — the funny’s diminished in live-action. —Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune, 21 May 2025

Ben Rice has been clobbering the ball, and other young Yankees such as Jasson Domínguez, Anthony Volpe and Austin Wells have been above league-average hitters. —Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News, 16 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun

origin unknown

Verb

origin unknown

First Known Use

Noun

1879, in the meaning defined above

Verb

circa 1942, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for clobber

• drawbar
• jobber
• robber
• micawber

Kids Definition

clobber

verb

clob·​ber

ˈkläb-ər

1

: to hit with force

2

: to defeat by a wide margin