bunker
Americannoun
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bunkers
plural
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a large bin or receptacle; a fixed chest or box.
a coal bunker.
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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.
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Golf. any obstacle, as a sand trap or mound of dirt, constituting a hazard.
verb (used with object)
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bunkers,
present (3rd person singular)
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bunkered,
past participle, past
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bunkering
present participle
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Nautical.
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to provide fuel for (a vessel).
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to convey (bulk cargo, except grain) from a vessel to an adjacent storehouse.
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Golf. to hit (a ball) into a bunker.
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to equip with or as if with bunkers.
to bunker an army's defenses.
noun
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a large storage container or tank, as for coal
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Also called (esp US and Canadian): sand trap. an obstacle on a golf course, usually a sand-filled hollow bordered by a ridge
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an underground shelter, often of reinforced concrete and with a bank and embrasures for guns above ground
verb
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(tr) golf
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to drive (the ball) into a bunker
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(passive) to have one's ball trapped in a bunker
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(tr) nautical
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to fuel (a ship)
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to transfer (cargo) from a ship to a storehouse
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Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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bunkersimple
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bunkerssimple
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have bunkeredperfect
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has bunkeredperfect
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am bunkeringprogressive
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are bunkeringprogressive
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is bunkeringprogressive
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have been bunkeringperfect progressive
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has been bunkeringperfect progressive
Past
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bunkeredsimple
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had bunkeredperfect
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was bunkeringprogressive
-
were bunkeringprogressive
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had been bunkeringperfect progressive
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."
Vocabulary lists containing bunker
Maus I: My Father Bleeds History
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I Survived the Battle of D-Day, 1944
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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.
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
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.
