bomb shelter

American  

noun

1. a room or area, usually underground, especially reinforced against the effects of bombs, used as a shelter during an air raid.

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Etymology

Origin of bomb shelter

First recorded in 1935–40

Example Sentences

In a public bomb shelter two storeys underground, one woman lay sleeping on a bunk bed in the mid-afternoon, while another worked at their laptop.

From Barron's • Mar. 18, 2026

At least three times a week, Oleksandr Ryabov climbs into a bomb shelter in the southern Ukrainian city of Bashtanka and waits for his students to arrive.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 29, 2025

He then proceeded to gut the architectural gem, with reports at the time suggesting that he wanted to turn the concrete structure into a kind of modernist bomb shelter.

From MarketWatch • Dec. 11, 2025

Three hours after they returned from the wedding last Thursday evening, "we heard sirens and had to go to the bomb shelter," she told the BBC.

From BBC • Jun. 17, 2025

The new basement shelter had a four-inch-thick door, Army cots and canned food, a direct phone line to the Pentagon’s bomb shelter, and a shower to wash off radioactive fallout.

From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin