bombard
Americanverb (used with object)
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bombards,
present (3rd person singular)
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bombarded,
past participle, past
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bombarding
present participle
noun
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the earliest kind of cannon, originally throwing stone balls.
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Nautical. bomb ketch.
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an English leather tankard of the 18th century and earlier, similar to but larger than a blackjack.
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Obsolete. a leather jug.
verb
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to attack with concentrated artillery fire or bombs
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to attack with vigour and persistence
the boxer bombarded his opponent with blows to the body
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to attack verbally, esp with questions
the journalists bombarded her with questions
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physics to direct high-energy particles or photons against (atoms, nuclei, etc) esp to produce ions or nuclear transformations
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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bombardsimple
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bombardssimple
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have bombardedperfect
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has bombardedperfect
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am bombardingprogressive
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are bombardingprogressive
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is bombardingprogressive
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have been bombardingperfect progressive
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has been bombardingperfect progressive
Past
-
bombardedsimple
-
had bombardedperfect
-
was bombardingprogressive
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were bombardingprogressive
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had been bombardingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of bombard
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English (noun), Medieval Latin bombarda “stone-throwing engine” ( Latin bomb(us) “booming noise” + -arda noun suffix); see bomb, -ard
Explanation
To bombard is to attack, whether physically (with something like missiles) or metaphorically (with something like questions). See the word bomb in bombard? That's a clue to its meaning. When a place is bombarded, an enemy could literally be dropping bombs on it. In the days of stoning, people were bombarded with rocks. A politician getting pestered with questions is also being bombarded. You could say a teacher who assigns a lot of homework is bombarding the class with assignments. Bombarding involves a series of attacks; one bomb or one question can't be described as a bombardment.
Vocabulary lists containing bombard
Save Me a Seat
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Metamorphosis
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Vocabulary from the Second Presidential Debate: October 9, 2016
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"These rare events, triggered by large, well-positioned collisions in the main asteroid belt, bombard all inner solar system worlds," Bottke said.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 18, 2026
‘I’ve plenty of time on my hands’: Advisers bombard me with offers of free steak dinners.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 8, 2026
Deming goes old school to distort Reilly’s focus and bombard him with harsh spotlights.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026
Sunday's presidential election comes about four months after outgoing President Patrice Talon survived a coup attempt, when Nigeria - the regional superpower - sent warplanes to bombard mutinous soldiers who had attempted to overthrow him.
From BBC ● Apr. 9, 2026
I feel like my secret mission is to find out where Daddy’s notebooks are, so I bombard Mama as soon as I climb into the car.
From "Isaiah Dunn Is My Hero" by Kelly J. Baptist
Unlike Delta, which bombards premium travelers with what-to-expect emails ahead of their flight, JetBlue was notably silent about its Mint perks after I booked in mid-February.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 18, 2026
Without this invisible barrier, Earth would be exposed to the same constant stream of charged particles that bombards other planets in our solar system, such as Mars, making life there far more difficult.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2025
Schools pile on homework, extracurricular activities consume evenings, and social media bombards us with comparisons to seemingly perfect families.
From Salon ● Sep. 17, 2024
The Sun bombards Earth with a tremendous amount of energy, and the vast majority of it is reflected or quickly re-emitted as infrared heat.
From Science Magazine ● Apr. 4, 2024
Imam Malik looks helpless as our class bombards him with questions.
From "Amina's Voice" by Hena Khan
Adding to the phone-calls-may-be-disruptive argument, Hall said in today’s digital-heavy world, people are constantly being bombarded by notifications on their phones.
From Salon ● Sep. 30, 2026
An independent study revealed that these bots bombarded a U.N. data hub with more than 16,000 requests, eventually utilizing unauthorized techniques to circumvent security filters.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
And I really can't because they're probably being bombarded by 700 people over there.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
They then bombarded the gas mixture with protons to imitate the stream of energetic particles generated by solar superflares.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 2, 2026
They provided precise ionization data, spelled out their theory on how positrons emitted by the bombarded atoms transmuted into gamma rays, and carefully avoided any speculation about the significance of the new phenomenon.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
But we also have things like Netflix Playground bombarding us.
From Slate ● Sep. 5, 2026
Ecuador, which finished second in the South American World Cup qualifiers, put up a strong fight, bombarding the Mexican team with crosses, albeit without much organization.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
The scammers who have been bombarding American smartphones with fake messages about packages and toll-road fines have pivoted to impersonating the phone companies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
As diplomats wrangle for a breakthrough in what has been Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II, Russia has continued to press forward with its assault, bombarding Ukraine daily.
From Barron's ● Jan. 9, 2026
As one of the lab’s senior scientists, McMillan was at the hub of Ernest’s campaign to augment the discovery of fission by bombarding uranium and logging the reactions.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
