bash
Americanverb (used with object)
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bashes,
present (3rd person singular)
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bashed,
past participle, past
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bashing
present participle
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to strike with a crushing or smashing blow.
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Chiefly British, Canadian. to hurl harsh verbal abuse at.
noun
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bashes
plural
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a crushing blow.
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Informal. a thoroughly enjoyable, lively party.
idioms
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on the bash, working as a prostitute.
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have a bash (at), to attempt; make an attempt.
verb
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(tr) to strike violently or crushingly
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(tr; often foll by in, down, etc) to smash, break, etc, with a crashing blow
to bash a door down
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to crash (into); collide (with)
to bash into a lamppost
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to dent or be dented
this tin is bashed
this cover won't bash easily
noun
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a heavy blow, as from a fist
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a dent; indentation
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a party
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informal to make an attempt
Usage
What does bash mean? Bash means "to strike" something with great force. It's been adopted as slang for hurling insults or verbal abuse at someone. A bash is also an older slang term for "a wild party."
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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bashsimple
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bashessimple
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have bashedperfect
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has bashedperfect
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am bashingprogressive
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are bashingprogressive
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is bashingprogressive
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have been bashingperfect progressive
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has been bashingperfect progressive
Past
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bashedsimple
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had bashedperfect
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was bashingprogressive
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were bashingprogressive
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had been bashingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of bash
First recorded in 1635–45; perhaps of expressive origin
Explanation
To bash is to hit something hard. You might stand up suddenly on a sailboat and bash your head on the mast. Marching band drummers bash their drums with mallets, and terrible drivers bash their bumpers into trees. You can also figuratively bash another person by saying terribly critical things about her. When bash is a noun, it means either "a hard hit or blow," or "a loud, festive party:" "Welcome to my bash! Don't bash your head on the piñata."
Vocabulary lists containing bash
Party Parlance for Mardi Gras
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Unit 3: Compelling Evidence
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I Survived the Attacks of September 11, 2001
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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:
Johnson’s Jake is particularly prone to changing his mind within a scene, practically letting us see the moments when his brain pops out of his body to bash itself against the nearest wall.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
The Seattle Mariners catcher had one of the greatest slugging performances in baseball history in 2025, becoming just the seventh player to bash 60 home runs in a single season.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Still, their top-secret, multiday bash on Cumberland Island, Ga., was a sizable undertaking.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
The event at Madison Square Garden shuttered one of Manhattan's busiest corridors and brought out Hollywood's A-list for what was likely the bash of the century.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026
I guess in most ways, or at least in the ways in which parties are judged, my birthday bash was a huge success.
From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
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Perkins’s home is dotted with pieces from his roughly $20 million art collection, toys like a 50-piece kit to outfit laser-tag players and dancing robots that bust moves at bashes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 26, 2026
But that pales in comparison to the money being spent by some media and other companies that produce their own bashes.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 24, 2026
The result Saturday was a mid-winter party that felt different than any of their previous bashes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 31, 2026
Now Mr Shuter’s former star client is sitting in a Brooklyn jail cell, a short drive away from the Hamptons, where he once presided over decadent celebrity bashes.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2024
Just imagine trying to herd an animal that bolts, blindly bashes itself against walls, can leap up to nearly 30 feet, and can run at a speed of 50 miles per hour!
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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As the waves bashed the coast this week, boulders smashed into the piles of Mitchell Leib’s Malibu home, plucking them like a “guitar string” and shaking his house.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
Hanson says she's been "ridiculed, bashed around and called racist, xenophobic", but says people have now changed their minds.
From BBC ● Mar. 25, 2026
And in that context, to have as a last speaker, without any rebuttal of any arguments that were made, someone who just bashed Europe, right, left, and center.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 21, 2026
Not bad for something he quickly bashed out in bulletin format without much forethought, in response to a post a former colleague had written.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 8, 2026
I am bashed smack into the side of the Drinker house.
From "The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle" by Leslie Connor
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Yes, inside you will be hurting and your pride will be taking a bashing but everyone at the club will be waiting for your reaction, and will act accordingly.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
So when he turned on a TV in Brooklyn and saw grown men bashing into each other over an oblong ball, he had no idea what to make of it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
But a viral social-media post this weekend took Grantham bashing a step further by looking at the investing legend’s own investments.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 29, 2026
Jack Osbourne, the youngest child of Ozzy Osbourne, lashes back at Roger Waters’ bashing of the “Prince of Darkness” and his music.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 12, 2026
But most guys just got all tense around Joey in normal social situations, like any time when we weren’t out on the pitch and bashing each others’ brains in playing rugby.
From "Winger" by Andrew Smith
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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.