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
-
to criticize severely
noun
verb
Regional Use
See clabber.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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clobbersimple
-
clobberssimple
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have clobberedperfect
-
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:
Hints of any slowdown in AI spending could clobber the S&P 500, as MarketWatch’s Jamie Chisholm wrote in early October.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 31, 2026
"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
Instead, he will hit lazy pop-flys, or yank a ground ball to the pull side, or simply foul off mistake pitches he’d typically clobber.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 29, 2024
He—tentatively at first, until he knows I’m not gonna clobber him again—gets a big hand under each of my armpits and helps me to my feet, then puts his arm around me for support.
From "Popcorn" by Rob Harrell
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
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
That line of hers clobbers me over and over.
From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
The more people on the slope, the greater your chance of getting clobbered by a reckless cowboy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026
That team held a players-only meeting after falling to 0-3… then got clobbered, 27-0, by the Houston Oilers in Week 4.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026
Razaullah, the 21-year-old batting at number nine on Test debut, clobbered 81 from 63 balls at Edgbaston.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
Even when software names were getting clobbered, retail traders stepped up and bought the dip, according to Vanda Research.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 4, 2026
Mom threw her hands up and held the books in place, saving both of us from getting clobbered.
From "It’s Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned Vizzini
“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
Ford’s secret project had an ambitious goal: to figure out how to make electric vehicles in the U.S. that could compete with the Chinese models clobbering competitors globally.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 5, 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
It took a clobbering in the Blitz—I wasn’t there, thank God—and the replacement buildings and the tower block are a national disgrace.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
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