bomb
[noun]
Synonyms:
- explosive, device, grenade, mine, missile, projectile, rocket, shell, torpedo
[verb]
Synonyms:
- blow up, attack, blow sky-high, bombard, destroy, shell, strafe, torpedo

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English Thesaurus: bomb, explosives, device, IED, mine, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

I. bomb¹ S3 W3 /bɒm $ bɑːm/ noun [countable]
[Date: 1600-1700; Language: French; Origin: bombe, from Italian bomba, probably from Latin bombus 'deep sound', from Greek bombos, from the sound]

1. WEAPON a weapon made of material that will explode:
The bomb went off at 9.30 in the morning.
Enemy planes dropped over 200 bombs during the raid.
He was killed in a bomb explosion. ⇒ smoke bomb, stink bomb

2. BAD PERFORMANCE/EVENT American English informal a play, film, event etc that is not successful:
This is just another one of Hollywood’s bland and boring bombs.

3. be the bomb informal to be very good or exciting:
That new P Diddy CD is the bomb.

4. the bomb used to describe nuclear weapons, and especially the hydrogen bomb:
Voices of dissent began to rise against the bomb.

5. cost a bomb British English informal to cost a lot of money

6. make a bomb British English informal to get a lot of money by doing something

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

II. bomb² verb

1. [transitive] to attack a place by leaving a bomb there, or by dropping bombs on it from a plane:
The town was heavily bombed in World War II.
Government aircraft have been bombing civilian areas. ⇒ carpet-bomb, dive-bomb

2. [intransitive always + adverb/preposition] British English informal to move or drive very quickly:
Suddenly a police car came bombing down the high street.

3. [intransitive and transitive] American English informal to fail a test very badly:
I bombed my midterm.

4. [intransitive] American English if a play, film, event etc bombs, it is not successful:
His latest play bombed on Broadway.
be bombed out phrasal verb
if a building or the people in it are bombed out, the building is completely destroyed:
My family were bombed out in 1941.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

bomb
noun
ADJ. big, huge, large, massive | small | cluster, fire, high explosive, incendiary, mortar, nail, petrol, smoke | atom/atomic, hydrogen, neutron, nuclear | bouncing, flying | terrorist | home-made | unexploded | stray Their truck was hit by a stray bomb.
dummy, fake a practice flight with dummy bombs
car | letter, parcel | time (figurative) He described global warming as ‘an environmental time bomb ticking away’.
VERB + BOMB place, plant, put Police suspect terrorists planted the bomb.
carry The plane had been adapted to carry bombs.
drop, release Enemy planes dropped bombs along the railway line.
defuse | detonate, explode, set off | build, construct, develop (These verbs are only used about countries.) India started to build a nuclear bomb.
make He used a clock to make a home-made bomb.
BOMB + VERB fall, rain (down) Eighty people died when bombs rained down on the city's crowded streets.
hit sth | detonate, explode, go off | blow sb/sth to pieces, blow sth up, destroy sth, kill sb, rip through sth Fifteen people were blown to pieces by the car bomb. A terrorist bomb ripped through the town's packed shopping centre.
be ticking away
BOMB + NOUN attack, blast, explosion | alert, scare, threat, warning | hoax | disposal, squad | shelter | crater The land was scarred with bomb craters.
damage | site | victim | suspect | test the fallout from atomic bomb tests

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

bomb
verb
ADV. heavily The city had been very heavily bombed.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

bomb

a bomb explodes/goes off
Forty people were injured when the bomb exploded.
A 200 pound bomb went off in the car park.
set off a bomb (also detonate a bomb formal) (=make a bomb explode)
The area was cleared and the police safely detonated the bomb.
drop a bomb (=from a plane)
Government forces began dropping bombs on rebel positions.
a bomb falls on something
A bomb fell on the cathedral during the war.
plant a bomb (=put a bomb somewhere)
It is thought that right-wing extremists planted the bomb.
a nuclear/hydrogen bomb
The North Koreans were developing a nuclear bomb.
an atom/atomic bomb
Oppenheimer was the father of the atomic bomb.
a neutron bomb (=that kills people but does not damage buildings much)
a car bomb (=that makes a car explode)
The car bomb killed 21 shoppers.
a letter bomb (also a parcel bomb British English) (=sent in a letter or parcel)
A second letter bomb was found among the unopened mail.
a time bomb (=that is set to explode at a particular time)
The terrorists’ time bomb was planned to cause the maximum carnage.
a petrol bomb British English (=containing petrol)
A petrol bomb was hurled at police as they chased the car.
a nail bomb (=containing nails)
a cluster bomb (=that sends out smaller bombs when it explodes)
a dirty bomb (=that spreads radioactive material)
a smart bomb (=that is guided to the right place)
a terrorist bomb
The aircraft was blown apart by a terrorist bomb.
a suicide bomb (=the person carrying the bomb dies when it explodes)
Each time there is a suicide bomb it is a new blow to peace.
a homemade bomb
Officers discovered several homemade bombs in the trunk of his car.
an unexploded bomb
The workmen found an unexploded bomb.
a bomb blast/explosion
The restaurant was destroyed in a massive bomb blast.
a bomb attack
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the bomb attack.
a bomb threat (=when someone leaves a message saying there is a bomb somewhere)
He delayed his flight home because of a bomb threat.
a bomb scare (=when people think there might be a bomb somewhere)
The building was evacuated after a bomb scare.
bomb disposal (=the job of dealing with bombs that have not exploded)
a bomb disposal expert
bomb-making equipment
Police found guns and bomb-making equipment in the house.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

bomb a weapon that explodes:
The bomb exploded on a bus in Jerusalem during the city’s morning rush hour.
Fifty-five people were injured in a car bomb attack in Baghdad.
Morrow was convicted in 1998 of sending four letter bombs (=a small bomb hidden in a package and sent to someone in order to hurt or kill them) to government officials.
People were worried that terrorists would try to detonate a dirty bomb (=a bomb that contains nuclear materials )in the city centre.
explosives bombs or substances that can cause explosions:
They used explosives to blow the door off the front of the building.
The car was packed with 1,000 lbs of high explosives (=powerful explosives).
device a bomb – used especially in news reports:
Police found the device hidden in a suitcase.
A bomb threat was received and the building was evacuated, but no device was found.
IED a bomb that has been made using whatever materials are available, especially one used to blow up soldiers travelling through a place. IED is short for ‘improvised explosive device’:
Several soldiers were killed when an IED exploded as their convoy drove by.
mine a type of bomb that is hidden just below the ground or under water, and that explodes when it is touched:
The fields are still full of landmines.
The ship struck a mine and sank.
grenade (also hand grenade) a small bomb that can be thrown by hand or fired from a special gun:
He pulled the pin and threw a grenade toward the enemy’s position.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲