bulge
noun
a rounded projection, bend, or protruding part; protuberance; hump.
bulge
1 American
[buhlj]
/ bʌldʒ /
noun
-
bulges
plural
-
a rounded projection, bend, or protruding part; protuberance; hump.
a bulge in a wall.
-
any sudden increase, as of numbers, sales, or prices.
the bulge in profits.
-
a rising in small waves on the surface of a body of water, caused by the action of a fish or fishes in pursuit of food underwater.
verb (used without object)
-
bulges,
present (3rd person singular)
-
bulged,
past participle, past
-
bulging
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
bulges,
present (3rd person singular)
-
bulged,
past participle, past
-
bulging
present participle
Bulge
2
American
[buhlj]
/ bʌldʒ /
noun
bulge
1
British
/ bʌldʒ /
noun
-
a swelling or an outward curve
-
a sudden increase in number or volume, esp of population
-
another name for baby boom
-
the projecting part of an army's front line; salient
verb
Bulge
2
British
/ bʌldʒ /
noun
Pronunciation
See bulk 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
bulgesimple
-
bulgessimple
-
have bulgedperfect
-
has bulgedperfect
-
am bulgingprogressive
-
are bulgingprogressive
-
is bulgingprogressive
-
have been bulgingperfect progressive
-
has been bulgingperfect progressive
Past
-
bulgedsimple
-
had bulgedperfect
-
was bulgingprogressive
-
were bulgingprogressive
-
had been bulgingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of bulge
1200–50; Middle English: bag, hump < Old French < Latin bulga bag < Celtic; compare Irish bolg bag
Explanation
To bulge is to stick out, making a bump called a bulge. A leak in the roof might make your ceiling bulge, and a giant feast could make a bulge over your waistband. The word bulge comes from the Old French word bouge for "wallet.” A full wallet makes a bulge in a guy’s back pocket. Bodybuilders' muscles bulge out of their bodies. A pimple is a tiny bulge on your skin. For the record, Battle of the Bulge isn’t a diet plan. It was a battle in World War II. Americans called it the Battle of the Bulge because of the way the Allied front line bulged inward.
Vocabulary lists containing bulge
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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:
There’s a huge bulge in the population from the baby boom, and a lot of those people are approaching retirement and own private businesses.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 21, 2026
At one point, the tank began to bulge.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2026
The tank heated up in recent days and started to bulge.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 24, 2026
Researchers say this behavior matches predictions from the dark matter halo in their model when combined with the known mass of the Milky Way's disk and central bulge.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 7, 2026
She had reported on Mount St. Helens for long enough to have listened to the scientists, to have witnessed the bulge growing and the mountain shaking and erupting.
From "Mountain of Fire" by Rebecca E. F. Barone
In December 1944, Trautman—who had by this time been promoted to lieutenant colonel—was trapped behind enemy lines during the Battle of the Bulge.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
The team plans to use Roman's future Galactic Bulge Time Domain Survey, which will repeatedly observe millions of stars in enormous sections of the sky.
From Science Daily ● May 15, 2026
“My dad fought in the Battle of the Bulge, right?”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 5, 2026
Roland L. Bragg, a World War II hero who earned the Silver Star and Purple Heart for his exceptional courage during the Battle of the Bulge in 1944.
From Slate ● Feb. 12, 2025
The Battle of the Bulge ended about the middle of January, with the newspapers reporting seventy-seven thousand Allied casualties and one hundred twenty thousand German casualties.
From "The Chosen" by Chaim Potok
The Federal Communications Commission began its own inquiry in February; its file of public comments bulges with criticism of the sports-migration trend.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
The downdrafts can become so severe that air is forced beneath the cloud, creating large bulges of air and water droplets.
From BBC ● Feb. 26, 2025
The waves produced visible bulges in the blood vessels, which will aid in mixing the fluid around the brain's cells.
From Science Daily ● May 29, 2024
You get a sense of his vertical straightaways and of the tasteful, nose-shaped bulges on a slate piece called “Gregory.”
From New York Times ● Jan. 11, 2024
Age and the settling of the house have warped the door completely, so that the top half of the door bulges away from the jamb.
From "Girl in the Blue Coat" by Monica Hesse
At one point, the vessel "actually bulged" according to the local fire chief.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
“Maybe we take a break from spending the night at Taylor’s,” he said, as several veins bulged out of his forehead.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 2026
McConnell chafed at this and his beady little eyes bulged with contempt as he had to choke down the filth Trump spewed.
From Salon ● Feb. 29, 2024
The area had a prewar population of around 280,000, a figure that has bulged to over 1 million in recent days, according to the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 4, 2024
The muscles of his arms and shoulders bulged against a tight black shirt as he stood with hands clasped in front of him, staring at the floor.
From "The Kill Order (Maze Runner, Book Four; Origin)" by James Dashner
What was it about O’Rourke’s bulging bookshelves that got Kilmeade so shirty?
From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2026
Rogers, the GOP Senate candidate in Michigan, went viral recently when a photo was posted on X depicting him with muscles bulging out of his shirt at a parade.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
The tank in greatest crisis was already bulging on Thursday.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 22, 2026
The consumer-price index, due out on Tuesday, is forecast to rise a sharp 0.6% in April after a bulging 0.9% increase in March.
From MarketWatch ● May 11, 2026
It was worse than wrong; it was unbeautiful—an ugly, bulging, falling-apart catastrophe, a skyscraper after an earthquake.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
