bump
Americanverb (used with object)
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to come more or less violently in contact with; collide with; strike.
His car bumped a truck.
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to cause to strike or collide.
He bumped the car against a tree.
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to dislodge or displace by the force of collision.
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to dislodge by appropriating the privileges of.
The airline bumped me from the flight.
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to demote or dismiss.
He was bumped from his job.
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to force upward; raise.
Demand from abroad bumped the price of corn.
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to move to a new position.
We had to bump your story to next week's paper.
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Digital Technology. to move (an online post or thread) to the top of the reverse chronological list by adding a new comment or post to the thread.
I bumped the question I posted last week to make it more visible.
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Poker. raise.
verb (used without object)
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to come in contact or collide with (often followed by against orinto ).
She bumped into me.
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to bounce along; proceed in a series of jolts.
The old car bumped down the road.
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to dance by thrusting the pelvis forward abruptly, in a provocative manner, especially to the accompaniment of an accented musical beat.
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to boil with violent jolts caused by the sudden eruption of large bubbles through the surface.
noun
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the shock of a blow or collision.
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a swelling or contusion from a blow.
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a small area raised above the level of the surrounding surface; protuberance.
He tripped over a bump on the sidewalk.
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Informal. a promotion or demotion; transfer to a higher or lower level.
He got a bump to vice president of the company.
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Informal. an increase in amount, especially of salary or a wager.
He asked the boss for a ten-dollar bump.
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Aeronautics. a rapidly rising current of air that gives an airplane a severe upward thrust.
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a dance movement in which the pelvis is abruptly thrust forward in a provocative manner, especially to the accompaniment of an accented musical beat.
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Mining. crump.
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Television. bumper.
verb phrase
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bump off to kill, especially to murder.
They bumped him off because he knew too much.
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bump into to meet by chance.
I bumped into an old friend yesterday.
verb
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to knock or strike with a jolt
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to travel or proceed in jerks and jolts
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(tr) to hurt by knocking
he bumped his head on the ceiling
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(tr) to knock out of place; dislodge
the crash bumped him from his chair
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(tr) to throw (a child) into the air, one other child holding each limb, and let him down again to touch the ground
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(in rowing races, esp at Oxford and Cambridge) to catch up with and touch (another boat that started a fixed distance ahead)
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cricket to bowl (a ball) so that it bounces high on pitching or (of a ball) to bounce high when bowled
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(intr) to dance erotically by thrusting the pelvis forward (esp in the phrase bump and grind )
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(tr) poker to raise (someone)
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informal (tr) to exclude a ticket-holding passenger from a flight as a result of overbooking
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informal (tr) to displace (someone or something) from a previously allocated position
the story was bumped from the front page
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slang to have sexual intercourse
noun
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an impact; knock; jolt; collision
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a dull thud or other noise from an impact or collision
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the shock of a blow or collision
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a lump on the body caused by a blow
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a protuberance, as on a road surface
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any of the natural protuberances of the human skull, said by phrenologists to indicate underlying faculties and character
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a rising current of air that gives an aircraft a severe upward jolt
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(plural) the act of bumping a child. See sense 5
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rowing the act of bumping See bumping race
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cricket a ball that bounces into the air after being hit directly into the ground by the batsman
Usage
What else does bump mean? Bump is an online slang term for the practice of posting filler comments to move a post to the top of a discussion thread, increasing a message or thread’s status and visibility.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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bumpsimple
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bumpssimple
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have bumpedperfect
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has bumpedperfect
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am bumpingprogressive
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are bumpingprogressive
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is bumpingprogressive
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have been bumpingperfect progressive
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has been bumpingperfect progressive
Past
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bumpedsimple
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had bumpedperfect
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was bumpingprogressive
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were bumpingprogressive
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had been bumpingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of bump
First recorded in 1560–70; imitative
Explanation
A bump is an area that bulges out, like a pregnant woman's stomach. To bump someone is to knock into them. A pimple is a little bump. A camel’s hump is a larger bump. There are speed bumps sticking up in the road to keep drivers from going too fast. When you bump someone, you hit them with your whole body. If the person in front of you stops walking and you're not paying attention, you might bump right into them. Bumping often happens by accident, unless of course you are doing "the bump" (a 1970's dance).
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:
But employees shouldn’t get too excited: Projected pay increases may seem more like a blip than a bump.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026
And lower-income households are getting a 12% pay bump on average after a job switch versus 9% for higher-income households, she said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
That should allow his receivers more time to turn up the field and bump up their yards-after-catch numbers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
The stock market has bigger fish to fry this summer than a bump in oil prices.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 12, 2026
The corner is crowded, and people bump into each other, rushing to clean up before we go to recess.
From "Muffled" by Jennifer Gennari
The JPMorgan team said they are proponents of rotation and market broadening for the rest of this year, but cautioned investors to expect bumps.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 20, 2026
That crate was then placed into an outer cage, in which metal springs acted as shock absorbers to protect it from bumps in the road.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
A tilted accretion disk around a black hole could also create bumps in the light curve.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 6, 2026
The event’s description said attendees would be greeted with “champagne, caviar bumps, and a mysterious envelope” that reveals who the AI matchmaker paired them up with.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 28, 2026
They all stood and looked at each other for a minute, and Natalie got goose bumps.
From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz
The company bumped up its profit forecast for the year, guiding for earnings per share of $7.35 to $7.50, compared with a prior range of $7.30 to $7.45.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Ferguson recalled that the pair bumped into each other at Wentworth Golf Club a few weeks after the end of the season and there was no animosity as they spent time together.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
Before the rainout bumped the second game of the series against the New York Yankees, Sheehan was scheduled to start Saturday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2026
That round was bumped up to a $860 million raise in February.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 8, 2026
I left Katrien in the dining room, wheeled my bicycle down the stairs, and bumped as fast as I could the mile and a half to Nollie’s.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
"But they will soon be bumping against the external problems that are bedeviling the industry."
From Barron's ● Jul. 16, 2026
If it’s 6%, then it’s a no-brainer to say you should consider at least bumping up your contributions by 1 percentage point so that you don’t leave free money on the table.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 29, 2026
Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican, recalled bumping into Duffy last year and remarking that his skin was glowing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026
But the grief can hit during seemingly-innocuous interactions like bumping into someone at the shop, she said.
From BBC ● May 6, 2026
I hurry off the bus at school, bumping into Sean—one of the guys who sits with Edie at lunch—as I step down onto the pavement.
From "How to Disappear Completely" by Ali Standish
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.
