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cluster bomb

American

noun

a canister that can be dropped from an aircraft and that opens to release a number of small fragmentation explosives over a wide area.

cluster bomb British

noun

a bomb that throws out a number of smaller bombs or antipersonnel projectiles when it explodes

"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

Etymology

Origin of cluster bomb

First recorded in 1960–65

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.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his young daughter oversaw a test of a cluster bomb, a controversial weapon now vital to its strategic-missile arsenal.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 20, 2026

But the Commanders are still the same cluster bomb owned by Snyder.

From Washington Post • Oct. 14, 2022

The Pentagon hasn’t dropped a cluster bomb since 2003, but it still sells them.

From Los Angeles Times • May 23, 2016

Indeed, from a pure military perspective, a cluster bomb is ideal.

From US News • Aug. 19, 2015

Recent activist footage claimed to show the remains of a Chinese-made cluster bomb at the scene of a bombing.

From The Guardian • Mar. 21, 2013

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023