caramba

[ kah-rahm-bah ]

/ kɑˈrɑm bɑ /

|

interjection Spanish.

(used as an exclamation of astonishment, dismay, or anger.)

Nearby words

carafe, caragana, carageen, caramanlis, caramanlis, constantine, caramba, carambola, caramel, caramelize, carangid, carangoid

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for caramba

The man who would become the most influential fictionalist of the last half of the 20th century cried, “Ah, caramba!”
Borges Had A Genius For Literature But Not Love Or Much Else|Allen Barra|October 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In a few minutes they were startled by an explosive “Caramba!”
The Gilded Man|Clifford Smyth
What about the fifty-foot B'ar I saw wit' mine own eyes, caramba?
Monarch, The Big Bear of Tallac|Ernest Thompson Seton
There was an old cot there––I slept on it two nights––Caramba!
Carmen Ariza|Charles Francis Stocking

Caramba (Spanish), a colloquial interjection, implying surprise and astonishment.
La Lgende des Sicles|Victor Hugo
The other barrel appeared to have been a miss—the larger tunante of the two had escaped, Caramba!
Wild Spain (Espaa agreste)|Abel Chapman

Word Origin and History for caramba

caramba

exclamation of dismay or surprise, 1835, from Spanish, said to be a euphemism for carajo "penis," from Vulgar Latin *caraculum "little arrow."

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper