Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

bunker

American  
[buhng-ker] / ˈbʌŋ kər /

noun

  • bunkers
    plural
  1. a large bin or receptacle; a fixed chest or box.

    a coal bunker.

  2. a fortification set mostly below the surface of the ground with overhead protection provided by logs and earth or by concrete and fitted with openings through which guns may be fired.

  3. Golf. any obstacle, as a sand trap or mound of dirt, constituting a hazard.


verb (used with object)

  • bunkers,
    present (3rd person singular)
  • bunkered,
    past participle,  past
  • bunkering
    present participle
  1. Nautical.

    1. to provide fuel for (a vessel).

    2. to convey (bulk cargo, except grain) from a vessel to an adjacent storehouse.

  2. Golf. to hit (a ball) into a bunker.

  3. to equip with or as if with bunkers.

    to bunker an army's defenses.

bunker British  
/ ˈbʌŋkə /

noun

  1. a large storage container or tank, as for coal

  2. Also called (esp US and Canadian): sand trap.  an obstacle on a golf course, usually a sand-filled hollow bordered by a ridge

  3. an underground shelter, often of reinforced concrete and with a bank and embrasures for guns above ground

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. (tr) golf

    1. to drive (the ball) into a bunker

    2. (passive) to have one's ball trapped in a bunker

  2. (tr) nautical

    1. to fuel (a ship)

    2. to transfer (cargo) from a ship to a storehouse

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of bunker

First recorded in 1750–60; earlier bonkar ( Scots ) “box, chest, serving also as a seat,” of obscure origin

Explanation

A bunker is an underground shelter, the kind you might build to prepare for a zombie apocalypse. (Be sure to stock up on canned food.) If you talk about a bunker today, most people assume you mean a shelter that's used during war, like a foxhole, or a safe underground or recessed place. Golfers will think you mean an obstacle on a golf course, a depression that's filled with sand. Another kind of bunker is a compartment that's used to store fuel on large ships — the oil itself is known as bunker fuel. The original fuel bunkers held coal, but today they typically contain oil. Bunker comes from a Scottish word for "bench."

Keep Reading on Vocabulary.com

Vocabulary lists containing bunker

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:

Some were wounded on the way to the bunker, but none were killed, officials said.

From The Wall Street Journal Jul. 20, 2026

Shortly afterwards, Sam Burns of the United States chipped in from a greenside bunker to also record an eight-under-par round of 62.

From BBC Jul. 17, 2026

This is not the freezer as bunker, or the freezer as punishment, or the freezer as the place where leftovers go to await their eventual quiet disposal.

From Salon Jul. 11, 2026

The manager of the site said this bunker was poor in comparison to the one the government built in Essex around the same time beneath a farmer's field.

From BBC Jul. 11, 2026

But then—hiss!—I heard footsteps, and the long-furred ogre entered the bunker holding a box in her paws.

From "Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat" by Johnny Marciano and Emily Chenoweth

The book includes photos of makeshift camps, barracks, latrines and other infrastructure, including the photography bunkers from which images of the explosion would be taken.

From The Wall Street Journal Aug. 7, 2026

These weapons allow the US to conduct precision strikes against hardened military targets, such as command bunkers or fortified military facilities, without putting manned aircraft in harm's way.

From BBC Jul. 27, 2026

Missiles typically carry bigger warheads than drones, can penetrate bunkers and are harder to intercept.

From The Wall Street Journal Jun. 26, 2026

These attacks have made Madyar a priority target for Russia, he says, forcing him into secret underground bunkers.

From Barron's Jun. 10, 2026

They were dug deep into the ground in reinforced bunkers.

From "Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two" by Joseph Bruchac

Antoniadi kept Pizza Hut closed and bunkered down in the restaurant for three days.

From Slate Nov. 13, 2025

Military officials quoted in Israeli media say troops are proceeding with caution, with the expectation of some 2,000 Hamas fighters bunkered in the city.

From Los Angeles Times Sep. 16, 2025

“We have shown that we can not only fight, but we can also sing very nice,” said Vitaliy, a soldier bunkered down north of Kyiv.

From Reuters May 16, 2022

The elevated green is heavily bunkered, and the wedge to the green is complicated by a rolling fairway with uneven lies.

From Seattle Times May 13, 2022

But poor Willy on that occasion got heavily bunkered; lost his head a little and perhaps his temper more than a little.

From Fifty Years of Golf by Hutchinson, Horace G.

To their surprise, they were told it was safe to play in the port city about an hour's drive east of Dubai, home to a key global oil storage and bunkering hub.

From BBC Mar. 6, 2026

"This marks an important step towards establishing methanol bunkering at scale and driving Singapore's ambition to be a sustainable multi-fuel bunkering hub," the MPA said.

From Barron's Nov. 24, 2025

"They need to choose a machinery system and make plans for the future. At the same time, there is considerable uncertainty related to fuel prices, carbon pricing, fuel bunkering availability and safety," he says.

From Science Daily Apr. 16, 2024

Exports of products already accepted by Russian Railways and Transneft can go ahead, while higher-sulphur gasoil and fuel used for bunkering will be exempt from the ban.

From Reuters Sep. 27, 2023

The cleanliness and saving of time from bunkering by the use of oil fuel is also an important factor in passenger ships, whilst considerable additional speed is obtainable.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 3 "Frost" to "Fyzabad" by Various

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Dictionary.com's Learning Companion

Go beyond just looking up words.
Remember them forever with VocabTrainer.

Start training