clobber
1 Americanverb (used with object)
noun
verb (used with object)
noun
verb
-
to beat or batter
-
to defeat utterly
-
to criticize severely
noun
verb
Regionalisms
See clabber.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
clobbersimple
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clobberssimple
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have clobberedperfect
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has clobberedperfect
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am clobberingprogressive
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are clobberingprogressive
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is clobberingprogressive
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have been clobberingperfect progressive
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has been clobberingperfect progressive
Past
-
clobberedsimple
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had clobberedperfect
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was clobberingprogressive
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were clobberingprogressive
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had been clobberingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of clobber1
An Americanism dating back to 1940–45; origin uncertain
Origin of clobber2
First recorded in 1875–80; of obscure origin; cf. clobber 3
Origin of clobber3
First recorded in 1850–55; earlier, “to mend, patch up (clothes or shoes)”; of obscure origin
Explanation
To clobber is to beat up or to defeat soundly in a game. You can say your favorite baseball team clobbers the competition if they win with a score of 10 to 0. When a boxer knocks out his adversary he clobbers him, and a bully clobbers his victim by punching him repeatedly. You can also clobber someone without shedding blood, as when you beat your dad in chess. The word clobber was originally World War II British air force slang, in the 1940s, and usually referred to aerial bombing.
Vocabulary lists containing clobber
Super Bowl Blowout: Epic Vocab for the Big Game
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American Football, 4th Quarter
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March: Book Two
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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:
"If you live in a small house, you don't want all this clobber."
From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026
At least they don’t reach out to clobber nearby cars.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 18, 2026
But as the storm continued to clobber the state, worse impacts were certainly possible, Mr. Ortiz said.
From New York Times ● Feb. 4, 2024
Game 2, without Muncy, Giants clobber the Dodgers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 2023
My other mother loved me to pieces, but she stood ready to clobber me if I moved.
From "Facing the Lion" by Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton and Herman Viola
Game 3, with Muncy back in the lineup, he clobbers the Giants, again.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 2023
Popular media hasembraced the terms, using them when a snowstorm clobbers an area that usually gets little snow.
From Scientific American ● Nov. 11, 2022
Mickelson’s not quite out of it, three back of Mattiace as he clobbers his drive on the 15th.
From Golf Digest ● Mar. 25, 2020
Malnutrition clobbers the immune system, leaving the victim more prone to infections and more likely to die from them.
From Science Magazine ● Apr. 6, 2017
That line of hers clobbers me over and over.
From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
Software companies have gotten clobbered this year, as seen in the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF, down 22% this year after falling 8% in the fourth quarter.
From Barron's ● Feb. 19, 2026
The Chinese factory that opened in the U.S. and clobbered its rivals.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 9, 2026
Britain’s economy has struggled to get out of first gear since the crisis almost two decades ago clobbered its huge finance sector.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 2, 2025
Bailey clobbered 28 from one Anderson over and England were set a notional second-innings target of 504.
From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2025
Treeless and rocky, perpetually clobbered by gales howling off the North Atlantic, it takes its name from its first settlers, now long gone, the Irish monks known as papar.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
Apple finally overthrew Nvidia to reclaim the title of the world’s largest company by market capitalization, underscoring the dramatic degree to which the iPhone maker’s stock is clobbering the broader technology universe.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026
The shift of manufacturing jobs to less expensive states in the South, or to Asia, started clobbering many Midwestern factory towns in the 1970s.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 25, 2026
He put himself on the Ashes radar by clobbering 183 for Australia A during a red-ball series against Sri Lanka A in Darwin this year, with his form continuing in the Sheffield Shield.
From Barron's ● Nov. 5, 2025
They looked incredible while clobbering a seemingly disinterested Phoenix Mercury team 85-59 during last week’s final tuneup, which alleviated many concerns following an 84-79 setback in the preseason opener.
From Seattle Times ● May 12, 2024
Charges began to hit the boat directly, clobbering the hull like a hammer on a pail.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
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.
