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Synonyms

air raid

American  

noun

  1. a raid by aircraft, especially for bombing a particular area.

air raid British  

noun

    1. an attack by hostile aircraft

    2. ( as modifier )

      an air-raid shelter
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • air raider noun
  • air-raid adjective

Etymology

Origin of air raid

First recorded in 1910–15

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.

In the commercial hub of Tel Aviv, Orit Baisa, 42, rushed to an underground car park as soon as he heard the air raid sirens warning of an incoming missile barrage.

From Barron's

The Foreign Office told British nationals in four Gulf states to seek shelter after explosions and air raid sirens were heard in Qatar's capital, Doha.

From BBC

Blasts were heard over Jerusalem after air raid sirens sounded, with sirens also heard in Bahrain, home to a US fleet, and in the Jordanian capital Amman.

From Barron's

There were more than 800 air raid alerts in Odesa in 2025 -- "this amounts to more than a month of operational time lost over the course of the year," Kravchuk told AFP.

From Barron's

The first group in the rogues’ gallery are the British children of World War II. Lennon was born in the interlude between air raids.

From The Wall Street Journal

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.