blockbuster
Americannoun
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an aerial bomb containing high explosives and weighing from four to eight tons, used as a large-scale demolition bomb.
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a motion picture, novel, etc., especially one lavishly produced, that has or is expected to have wide popular appeal or financial success.
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something or someone that is forcefully or overwhelmingly impressive, effective, or influential.
The campaign was a blockbuster.
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a real-estate speculator who practices blockbusting.
noun
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a large bomb used to demolish extensive areas or strengthened targets
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a very successful, effective, or forceful person, thing, etc
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a lavish film, show, novel, etc, that proves to be an outstanding popular success
Etymology
Origin of blockbuster
Explanation
A blockbuster is a Hollywood movie that's made with a large budget and big stars. A true blockbuster is extremely popular and brings in a lot of money. Typically, a blockbuster is a fabulous summer movie that audiences line up to see the first weekend it's released. You can also call a successful play or a new, popular video game a blockbuster. Less, often, a huge bomb is a blockbuster — this is the word's original, 1940s meaning, from the fact that such a bomb could destroy an entire city block. The entertainment meaning, from the 1950s, began as theater slang.
Vocabulary lists containing blockbuster
And the Oscar Goes to... Award-worthy Words
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Academy Awards, List 4
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This Week in Words: Current Event Vocabulary for November 4–November 10, 2023
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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.
It merged with a part of Pfizer that owned off-patent former blockbuster drugs for cholesterol, impotence, arthritis, and depression.
From Barron's • Apr. 10, 2026
Last month, Nexstar raced to finalize its blockbuster purchase of Tegna — despite a lawsuit filed by California Atty.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 7, 2026
The hardest and most "important" item to source was the yellow flotation barrels, which are like those used by the characters in the blockbuster to track the shark.
From BBC • Apr. 4, 2026
The movie “Project Hail Mary” has proven a certifiable blockbuster since its release last month, the highest-grossing Amazon film ever.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026
It would be the first traveling blockbuster art exhibition in history.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
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.
