bomb
Pluralbombs
Pluralbombs
- 1A device or charge of explosive material built or set to explode, used as a weapon or for demolition.
Engineers carefully defused the bomb before it could detonate.
Warplanes dropped bombs along the entire coastline.
UsageYou plant or set off a bomb, experts defuse one, and planes drop bombs.
- 2
- 3Nuclear weapons as a class, or the atomic bomb itself, usually spoken of as "the bomb".
Many scientists who built the bomb later regretted their work.
Cold War leaders lived under the constant shadow of the bomb.
UsageCommon in have the bomb and build the bomb, of countries with nuclear weapons.
Note
The definite article does the work here. The bomb, with no adjective, meant the atomic weapon, the one everybody worried about during the Cold War. Without the article, a bomb is simply any explosive weapon. It is still heard today in talk about which countries have the bomb or are trying to build it.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- The bomb, without an adjective, denotes the atomic weapon or nuclear capability. en.wiktionary.org
- Fear of nuclear weapons was characteristic of the Cold War. nps.gov
- A bomb has the general meaning of an explosive weapon. en.wiktionary.org
- 4To fail completely and badly.
The new comedy bombed within its first weekend.
Stand-up comedians sometimes bomb in front of tough crowds.
UsageWorks with or without an object: a comedian bombs, or you bomb an exam.
Oppositesucceed
Note
Ebony's 1992 profile of Arsenio Hall has him bombing several times as a stand-up. At the polls it means losing heavily, and it is the verb behind the box-office flop.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Ebony published a 1992 profile of Arsenio Hall that describes him bombing several times as a stand-up comic. en.wiktionary.org
- 5
- 6An obscene word referred to by its initial letter, as in the F-bomb.
The coach got a warning after dropping an F-bomb during the TV interview.
Parents complained when the comedian kept dropping F-bombs all night.
UsageUsually drop an F-bomb.
Note
Built from a letter and a hyphen: the F-bomb names an obscene word by its initial, so the speaker never has to say it. It is dropped, like the startling announcement, and the dropping is usually the news. A normally controlled person lets one slip.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- F-bomb is formed with the initial F, representing an obscene word, joined by a hyphen to bomb. en.wiktionary.org
- 7An action or statement that provokes a strong, often dramatic reaction from those who witness it.
The coach dropped a bomb on the team when he announced he was leaving.
My brother dropped a real bomb when he told us he had quit college.
UsageUsually drop a bomb, often drop a bomb on someone.
Similarbombshell, sensation, shock
Note
Bombshell does the same job, as in a bombshell announcement. Compounds narrow it to one particular kind of shock, which is the pattern behind the F-bomb.
- 8An event or condition that produces rapid, destructive effects.
Economists warned that the hidden debts were a bomb waiting to go off in the housing market.
Critics said the new tariffs had planted a bomb under the country's car industry.
Note
Figurative bombs are usually built, planted or thrown: a carbon bomb, a bomb built under an industry, bombs tossed down the corridors of power. The image is of damage waiting to go off. That sets it apart from the shocking announcement, where the explosion is the news itself.
- 9Anything at risk of exploding, or anything that has exploded.
The neglected furnace had become a bomb that threatened the whole building.
Inspectors flagged the corroded gas cylinder as a potential bomb.
Less common meanings
- 10A commercial failure; a product or production that flops and finds no audience.
The studio's summer release turned out to be an expensive bomb.
After three bombs in a row, the label dropped the band.
UsageOften a box-office bomb. Don't confuse it with the bomb, meaning something excellent.
Similarflop, failure, turkey, dud
Oppositehit, success, blockbuster
Note
Tony Curtis's American Prince (2008) uses it of his own pictures.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- In American Prince, Curtis uses “bomb” of films in which he appeared. en.wiktionary.org
- 11To bombard or harass someone, as with a barrage of messages or complaints.
Fans bomb the director with angry messages whenever a sequel is delayed.
Angry customers bombed the company's pages with complaints.
UsageUsually bomb someone with something: bombed with complaints, bombed with questions.
Similarbombard, flood, inundate, swamp
Note
Next to the military verb, it keeps the sense of many hits arriving at once rather than a single blow.
- 12A bag or balloon filled with water, flour, or paint, made to burst and splatter on impact.
On the last day of school, someone hit me with a paint bomb.
Each team prepared dozens of paint-filled bombs for the festival.
UsageUsually after what fills it: a water bomb, a paint bomb, a flour bomb.
Similarballoon
Note
The filling comes first and tells you what kind of mess to expect, which is why the word seldom stands alone in this sense. Water bombs belong to garden games, and paint bombs to protest, thrown at artworks.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Water bombs are used in garden games. hdcymru.co.uk
- Paint bombs have been thrown at artworks in protest. obeygiant.com
- 13A rapidly deepening extratropical cyclone whose central pressure falls at least 24 millibars in 24 hours, a threshold set at 60° latitude and scaled for other latitudes.
Meteorologists classified the storm as a bomb after its pressure plunged overnight.
A bomb off the Atlantic coast brought hurricane-force gusts to the shore.
Note
A forecaster's word for a storm that deepens explosively. Frederick Sanders and John R. Gyakum fixed the threshold in 1980 as 24 mb in 24 hours at 60°N, scaled by latitude, so the figure is adjusted for latitude rather than applied everywhere alike. In technical writing it names a defined class of cyclone, not just any big storm.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- Frederick Sanders and John R. Gyakum published their definition in 1980. en.wikipedia.org
- The threshold is a pressure fall of 24 millibars in 24 hours at 60°N, adjusted for other latitudes. soest.hawaii.edu
- 14In sports, a very long pass, a shot from far out, or a long hit such as a home run.
He launched a bomb that the receiver caught for a touchdown.
With seconds left, the offense gambled on a deep bomb.
Note
American football slang for the deep pass, thrown when a team wants a large gain in one throw. The image is a ball sent high and far that drops onto its target from above. The same picture covers a long basketball shot or a home run, and names the high rugby kick.
- 15A jump into water performed with arms and legs tucked toward the body, in a squatting shape, to create the biggest possible splash.
His bomb sent a wave of water right over the side of the pool.
He ran off the diving board and did a huge bomb that soaked us all.
UsageUsually do a bomb off a board or into a pool.
Similarcannonball
Note
Cannonball names the same jump. In Alan Partridge: Nomad (2016), by Steve Coogan with Neil and Rob Gibbons, a teenager enters the pool "by performing a bomb", a mock-solemn phrasing for a jump that is all splash.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Alan Partridge: Nomad was first published in 2016. lovereading.co.uk
- The book was written by Steve Coogan, Neil Gibbons and Rob Gibbons. lovereading.co.uk
- The book describes a teenager entering the pool using the exact words "by performing a bomb". en.wiktionary.org
- 16To leap into water in a squatting position, arms wrapped around the legs, to produce the largest possible splash.
They dared each other to bomb off the high board.
He bombed into the river, drenching everyone on the bank.
Similarcannonball
- 17
- 18Of a computer, program, or system, to fail suddenly and stop functioning.
The server will bomb if the memory runs out during processing.
The whole system bombed and we lost an hour of work.
Note
The difference from the verb of dismal failure lies in the subject: people and shows bomb by flopping, computers by stopping.
- 19A great success; something regarded as the best of its kind.
Critics agree the band's latest tour is the bomb.
Ask any local and they'll tell you that bakery is the bomb.
UsageUsually the bomb: it's the bomb. A related phrase is go like a bomb, to go or sell very well.
Note
The phrase the bomb, meaning the best there is, carries the same praise as a noun. The adjective takes it one step further and drops the article.
- 20
- 21To cover an area, wall, or surface with a large number of graffiti tags.
Taggers like to bomb old bridges so thickly that you can't see the concrete.
Writers had bombed the alley so thoroughly that no brick was left bare.
Similartag
Note
Graffiti writers set bombing beside piecing. Scape Martinez's GRAFF (2009) speaks of "future plans for bombing and piecing." Bombing is about numbers, tag after tag across a wall, a train or a whole area.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Scape Martinez wrote GRAFF: The Art & Technique of Graffiti. penguinrandomhouse.com
- GRAFF contains the exact phrase "future plans for bombing and piecing." en.wiktionary.org
- 22A car in poor, run-down condition.
The mechanic laughed when he saw the bomb she'd been driving for years.
That old bomb finally died on the freeway last week.
UsageUsually an old bomb, and it can sound fond as well as scornful.
Similarlemon, rustbucket
- 23A woman regarded as exceptionally attractive.
Back in her modeling days she was considered a real bomb.
His new girlfriend is a total bomb, the lads keep telling him.
UsageIt judges looks and can easily sound crude; attractive is the safer word. Compare bombshell.
Similarbombshell
- 24To drink enough alcohol to make oneself drunk.
By midnight, half the wedding guests were completely bombed.
After three bottles of wine, they were bombed and singing loudly.
Note
Reflexive at heart: in Pete Hamill's Dirty Laundry (1978), Murray bombed himself with the mezcal, and in Four Rooms (1995) a wife is told she can bomb herself all she wants at the party. The drink, when named, follows with. The self-directed form signals drinking on purpose, to get drunk.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- Dirty Laundry is by Pete Hamill and was published in 1978, so 1985 is not its first-publication year. nyplorg-data-archives.s3.amazonaws.com
- Dirty Laundry describes Murray bombing himself with mezcal. en.wiktionary.org
- Four Rooms was released in 1995. en.wikipedia.org
- In Four Rooms, a husband tells his wife she can bomb herself all she wants at the party. imsdb.com
- 25
- 26A quantity of a recreational drug that is ground up, wrapped in paper, and swallowed whole.
They each took a bomb before the gig started.
Wrapping it as a bomb let him swallow the dose quickly.
Note
Taking a drug this way has its own small vocabulary. The wrapped dose is a bomb, and swallowing it is bombing, or parachuting. Grinding and wrapping are what make it a bomb rather than a loose dose.
- 27A high kick that sends the ball nearly straight up, letting teammates get beneath it before it lands.
- 28A heavy-walled container built to contain chemical reactions carried out under high pressure.
- 29An explosive projectile thrown by hand or fired from a mortar or big gun, such as a grenade or shell.
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air / Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there
1814, “The Star-Spangled Banner”, Francis Scott Key (lyrics) - 30A small warship fitted with heavy mortars for firing explosive shells at targets on shore.
- 31A release of gas from the bowels.
- 32A marijuana cigarette that is especially strong.
- 33A deep, resounding noise, like the boom of something hollow being struck.
- 34A wrestling move in which the attacker hoists an opponent up and drives them down onto their back.
- 35To dose a neglected swimming pool with a very large amount of chlorine to clean it.
- 36To leave a toilet foul and smelly after using it.
- 37To produce a boom, hum or buzz.
What over-charged piece of melancholie / Is this, breakes in betweene my wishes thus, / With bombing sighs?
1625, Ben Jonson, The Fortunate Isles and Their Union - 38To wrap a dose of an illegal drug in paper or similar material so it can be swallowed whole.
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Origin
The word imitates a sound. Ancient Greek bómbos ("booming, humming, buzzing") became Latin bombus ("a booming sound"), then Italian bomba and French bombe, which English borrowed. Compare boom.