clobber
1 Americanverb (used with object)
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clobbers,
present (3rd person singular)
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clobbered,
past, past participle
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clobbering
present participle
noun
verb (used with object)
noun
verb
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to beat or batter
-
to defeat utterly
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to criticize severely
noun
verb
Regionalisms
See clabber.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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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
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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
Skipping their origin story keeps things tight while underlining the idea that these are settled-down grown-ups secure in their abilities to lengthen, disappear, ignite and clobber.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2025
But for UW to take pressure off its precarious pass defense, the Huskies must consistently clobber opponents up front.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 3, 2023
“That’s why you’re asking all these questions. You’re not worried about Maya, you’re worried about the baby. God, I’m so going to get a five on this AP test. I’m going to clobber it.”
From "Far from the Tree" by Robin Benway
Popular media hasembraced the terms, using them when a snowstorm clobbers an area that usually gets little snow.
From Scientific American ● Nov. 11, 2022
That said, there are some things you can do to maintain good credit or to minimize the damage if an unexpected expense clobbers your budget.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 2, 2021
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
Razaullah, the 21-year-old batting at number nine on Test debut, clobbered 81 from 63 balls at Edgbaston.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
Immediately after tea he clobbered the spin of Ali Usman over the leg side for six, then reached his half-century from 64 balls in the following over.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
The Chinese factory that opened in the U.S. and clobbered its rivals.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 9, 2026
After all, it’s not the first time that AI fears have clobbered the stocks, and they’ve always rebounded, as travel demand remains robust.
From Barron's ● Feb. 6, 2026
Because she felt attacked, relentlessly clobbered, by loss.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
“The Last House” and “The Whisper Man” have both outperformed “Don’t Say Good Luck,” with “The Whisper Man” clobbering both in the number of hours viewed after just a few days on the streamer.
From Salon ● Sep. 2, 2026
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
But once inside his truck he felt so unfairly cheated that he damn near broke a finger clobbering the dashboard.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
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.
