bombnoun
uk/bɒm/us/bɑːm/bomb noun (WEAPON)
B1 [ C ] a weapon that explodes and is used to kill or hurt people or to damage buildings:
one or more atom bombs:
More examples
- The bomb killed four soldiers and three civilians.
- A bomb exploded at one of the capital's busiest railway stations this morning.
- Police are hunting the terrorists who planted the bomb.
- A nuclear bomb could wipe the whole country off the map.
- A remote control device was used to detonate the bomb.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Bombs & missiles
- atom bomb
- ballistic
- ballistic missile
- ballistics
- bomblet
- firebomb
- frag bomb
- fragmentation bomb
- grenade
- guided missile
- minefield
- missile
- Molotov cocktail
- mushroom cloud
- napalm
- silo
- smart bomb
- smoke bomb
- surface-to-air missile
- time bomb
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bomb noun (FAILURE)
[ S ] US informal something that has failed:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Failures
- a dog's breakfast idiom
- another/the final nail in the coffin idiom
- breakdown
- car crash
- cock-up
- dead duck
- foul-up
- free fall
- hash
- lemon
- loser
- lost cause
- lulu
- mess-up
- parody
- slim pickings
- slush pile
- track record
- train wreck
- turkey
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bomb noun (MONEY)
a lot of money:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Large amounts of money
- a king's ransom idiom
- a small fortune idiom
- arm
- big bucks
- bundle
- cost, charge, etc. the earth idiom
- earth
- fortune
- handsome
- king
- megabucks
- not to be sneezed at idiom
- pile
- pot
- small
- sneeze
- tidy
- treasure
- treasure trove
- wealth
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Idiom(s)
bombverb
uk/bɒm/us/bɑːm/bomb verb (USE WEAPON)
B1 [ T ] to drop bombs on something:
B1 [ T ] to destroy something by exploding a bomb inside it:
More examples
- Planes bombed the guerrilla positions yesterday in an attempt to flush out snipers from underground tunnels.
- Fighter planes have successfully bombed the enemy's main armoury.
- Our city was bombed to smithereens during the war.
- They thought the country could be bombed into submission.
- Many important historical documents were destroyed when the library was bombed.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Detonation & bombardment
- air raid
- airstrike
- blanket bombing
- blitz
- blitz
- detonator
- direct hit
- dive-bomb
- firebomb
- first strike
- go off
- mine
- saturation bombing
- shoot
- shoot sth down
- shooting
- strafe
- strike
- strike home idiom
- torpedo
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bomb verb (GO FAST)
[ I + adv/prep ] informal to travel very fast in a vehicle:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
On the road: driving & operating road vehicles
- aquaplaning
- back sth up
- boxed in
- bump start
- bus driver
- car seat
- carve
- corner
- dip
- driver
- driving
- foot
- hold the road idiom
- manoeuvring
- motor
- motorist
- mph
- pull away
- scorch
- turning circle
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
bomb verb (FAIL)
[ I ] mainly US informal to fail:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Failing and doing badly
- at-risk
- backbencher
- balls-up
- be running on empty idiom
- beat a dead horse idiom
- crack
- crash
- draw
- fail
- fall apart
- flunk out
- fray around/at the edges idiom
- fumble
- get off on the right/wrong foot idiom
- give up on sb/sth
- screw (sth) up
- sink like a stone idiom 1
- sink like a stone
- so much for sth idiom
- stagnate
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