variants
or review-bombing
plural review bombings or review-bombings
: the flooding of a website with usually negative reviews (as of product or business)
While not always the case review bombing often seems targeted at projects that champion minorities, be it women, people of colour or the LGBTQIA community.—
Thomas Mitchell
Thomas MitchellThe Last Jedi also provoked an extreme fan reaction, and more review bombings where coordinated efforts were made to lower its rating on websites like Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb.—Andrew Blair
Andrew BlairWhile it was critically praised, there was some amount of backlash and intense review-bombing, owing to some of the major twists the show had in store.—Narayan Liu
Narayan Liureview bombing
2 of 2present participle of review bomb
Examples of review bombing in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Braedon Montgomery, Forbes.com, 28 June 2025
In particular, fans of Zack Snyder's DC films who don't approve of the DC Studios reboot have been voicing their disapproval since day one, with some going so far as to try to organize a review bombing campaign.
—Michileen Martin, MSNBC Newsweek, 19 June 2025
Additionally Little Mermaid was subject to review bombing in France, Korea, Germany and beyond.
—Dominic Patten, Deadline, 13 Feb. 2025
The low score was attributed to unjustified review bombing with the key evidence for this being that the show's Rotten Tomatoes critics' score stands at a more respectable 78%.
—Caroline Reid, Forbes, 4 Dec. 2024
Since its June 4 release, however, there have been allegations of review bombing, as its audience score has plummeted to only 14 percent — lower than the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special.
—James Hibberd, The Hollywood Reporter, 20 June 2024
Larson’s film experienced review bombing by people who left misogynistic reviews for the film on Rotten Tomatoes, even before the movie had been screened.
—Alexandra Del Rosario, Los Angeles Times, 14 Nov. 2023
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Noun
More recently, in 2023, the release of The Little Mermaid featuring Halle Bailey, a Black woman, as Ariel was also the subject of review bombing, leading IMDb to filter out non-genuine reviews and issue a formal statement on the matter.
—Braedon Montgomery, Forbes.com, 28 June 2025
In particular, fans of Zack Snyder's DC films who don't approve of the DC Studios reboot have been voicing their disapproval since day one, with some going so far as to try to organize a review bombing campaign.
—Michileen Martin, MSNBC Newsweek, 19 June 2025
Additionally Little Mermaid was subject to review bombing in France, Korea, Germany and beyond.
—Dominic Patten, Deadline, 13 Feb. 2025
The low score was attributed to unjustified review bombing with the key evidence for this being that the show's Rotten Tomatoes critics' score stands at a more respectable 78%.
—Caroline Reid, Forbes, 4 Dec. 2024
Since its June 4 release, however, there have been allegations of review bombing, as its audience score has plummeted to only 14 percent — lower than the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special.
—James Hibberd, The Hollywood Reporter, 20 June 2024
Larson’s film experienced review bombing by people who left misogynistic reviews for the film on Rotten Tomatoes, even before the movie had been screened.
—Alexandra Del Rosario, Los Angeles Times, 14 Nov. 2023
Cite this Entry
“Review bombing.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/review%20bombing. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share