Bombay

American  

[bom-bey] / bɒmˈbeɪ /

noun

1. Mumbai.

2. a former state in W India: divided in 1960 into the Gujarat and Maharashtra states.

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Bombay British  

/ bɒmˈbeɪ /

noun

1. the former English name of Mumbai

2. a breed of black short-haired medium-sized cat

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Bombay Cultural  

1. City in western India just off the coast of the Arabian Sea. It is now officially called Mumbai.

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India's second-largest city, after Calcutta, Bombay is the only natural deep-water harbor in western India.

Example Sentences

From fishing nets to ports and mills to malls, Bombay has constantly reinvented itself and remained a city in flux.

From BBC • Apr. 3, 2026

From Nana, Sadia heard beguiling stories about her grandmother’s young life in Bombay and later years in Karachi, Pakistan, where she fled after the 1947 Partition of India.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026

At the start of this year, a video popped up on social media sites in India showing the chief executive of the Bombay Stock Exchange, Sundararaman Ramamurthy, giving investors advice on which stocks to buy.

From BBC • Mar. 2, 2026

Fearful of a future shackled to the home, Charu leaves at 16 to find her way in Bombay, the first of this pilgrim soul’s reinventions.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 20, 2026

There was no reason for him to; he knew nothing of Charlie Bombay s personal life, had never even seen his wife.

From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie