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
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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:
Each bunker leads into an extensive tunnel network beneath the rocks that was built to protect the island in case of attack.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026
One estimate placed the cost of the ballroom and the bunker at $600 million, with taxpayers covering half, the Washington Post reported.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
A district court ordered a halt to work on the aboveground ballroom while allowing construction of the underground military bunker to proceed, but that order had been stayed while on appeal.
From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026
Some were wounded on the way to the bunker, but none were killed, officials said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
It took the helicopter just twenty minutes to reach the bunker.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
"There are a lot of bunkers that you don't really want to be in. You can have a lot of really long irons into par-four holes as well."
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026
These are bunkers, of which there are 3,600 on the island.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026
But the appeals court noted that the existing injunction specifically allows construction of underground bunkers, bomb shelters and military and medical infrastructure to continue, along with aboveground work strictly necessary for security.
From Salon ● Aug. 9, 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 hurried to open the steel doors leading to the underground bunkers.
From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Antoniadi kept Pizza Hut closed and bunkered down in the restaurant for three days.
From Slate ● Nov. 13, 2025
“The ethnic patchwork appears to be a map of bunkered enclaves. Its center cannot hold because the city doesn’t have one.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 22, 2023
“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
While most residents had fled, countless families remained bunkered beneath the complex of several buildings and a labyrinth of tunnels.
From Washington Post ● May 7, 2022
But this I've noticed as we strayed Along the bunkered way, No one with me has ever played As he did yesterday.
From Just Folks by Edgar A. (Edgar Albert) Guest
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
So come out, come out, wherever you’re bunkering: It’s time to say an early hello to spring.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 12, 2024
If Kenwardine has bought the wharf, why’s he sending the coal away, instead of using it in the regular bunkering trade?”
From Brandon of the Engineers by Harold Bindloss
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.
