Bombay
Americannoun
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the former English name of Mumbai
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a breed of black short-haired medium-sized cat
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India's second-largest city, after Calcutta, Bombay is the only natural deep-water harbor in western India.
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.
The city's name was officially changed from Bombay to Mumbai in the mid-1990s.
From BBC • Apr. 3, 2026
While Bombay brought cinema to India, cinema lived on its streets and not just on celluloid.
From BBC • Apr. 3, 2026
Fearful of a future shackled to the home, Charu leaves at 16 to find her way in Bombay, the first of this pilgrim soul’s reinventions.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 20, 2026
It was simply more convenient for the British to supervise Aden, for instance, from Bombay than from London.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 30, 2026
"Maybe I should audition for a Bollywood movie. I might get a bigger part in Bombay than on Broadway."
From "You Bring the Distant Near" by Mitali Perkins
Definitions 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.
