Standard Lemma guide

bombardment

noun · 8 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: /bɑmbɑɹdmənt/
  • General-American: /bəm-/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: B AA0 M B AA1 R D M AH0 N T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The act of bombing, especially towns or cities.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Heavy artillery fire.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

The incidence of an intense stream of high-energy particles directed at a substance.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: natural-sciences, physical-sciences, physics

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

An onslaught of criticism etc.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, figuratively, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

an attack by dropping bombs

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: bombing

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: attack, onslaught, onset, onrush

Narrower terms: bombing run, carpet bombing, area bombing, saturation bombing

6

noun

Meaning 6

the act (or an instance) of subjecting a body or substance to the impact of high-energy particles (as electrons or alpha rays)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: radiation

7

noun

Meaning 7

the heavy fire of artillery to saturate an area rather than hit a specific target

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • they laid down a barrage in front of the advancing troops
  • the shelling went on for hours without pausing

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: barrage, barrage fire, battery, shelling

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: fire, firing

8

noun

Meaning 8

the rapid and continuous delivery of linguistic communication (spoken or written)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a barrage of questions
  • a bombardment of mail complaining about his mistake

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: barrage, outpouring, onslaught

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: language, linguistic communication

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English bombard Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥ Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥tom Proto-Italic *-mentom Latin -mentum Old French -mentbor. Middle English -ment English -ment English bombardment From bombard + -ment.

Across languages

Translations

67 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: bombardering — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Arabic: قَصْف (qaṣf) — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Armenian: ռմբակոծում (ṙmbakocum) — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Armenian: ռմբակոծություն (ṙmbakocutʻyun) — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Belarusian: бамбава́нне (bambavánnje) — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Belarusian: бамбёжка (bambjóžka) — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Bulgarian: бомбардиро́вка (bombardiróvka) — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Catalan: bombardeig — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Chinese Mandarin: 轟擊 /轰击 (hōngjī) — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Chinese Mandarin: 砲擊 /炮击 (pàojī) — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Dutch: bombardement — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Finnish: pommitus — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • French: bombardement — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • German: Bombardierung — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • German: Bombardement — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Hungarian: bombázás — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Icelandic: sprengjuárás — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Icelandic: sprengjuregn — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Italian: bombardamento — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Japanese: 爆撃 (bakugeki) — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Japanese: 砲撃 (hōgeki) — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Korean: 포격 (pogyeok) — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Norman: bombardement — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Norwegian Bokmål: bombardement — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: bombardement — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Persian: بمباردمان (bombârdemân) — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Polish: bombardowanie — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Portuguese: bombardeamento — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Portuguese: bombardeio — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Romanian: bombardament — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Romanian: bombardare — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Russian: бомбардиро́вка (bombardiróvka) — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Russian: бомбёжка (bombjóžka) — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Slovak: bombardovanie — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Spanish: bombardeo — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Swedish: bombning — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Tagalog: pagtampol — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Turkish: bombardıman — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Ukrainian: бомбардува́ння (bombarduvánnja) — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Ukrainian: бомбува́ння (bombuvánnja) — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Yiddish: באָמבאַרדירן (bombardírn) — act of bombing, esp towns or cities
  • Afrikaans: bombardering — heavy artillery fire
  • Bulgarian: бомбардиро́вка (bombardiróvka) — heavy artillery fire
  • Chinese Mandarin: 砲擊 /炮击 (pàojī) — heavy artillery fire
  • Finnish: tykistökeskitys — heavy artillery fire
  • German: Beschuss — heavy artillery fire
  • Icelandic: sprengjuárás — heavy artillery fire
  • Icelandic: sprengjuregn — heavy artillery fire
  • Japanese: 爆撃 (bakugeki) — heavy artillery fire
  • Japanese: 砲撃 (hōgeki) — heavy artillery fire
  • Russian: бомбардиро́вка (bombardiróvka) — heavy artillery fire
  • Russian: артобстре́л (artobstrél) — heavy artillery fire
  • Russian: артиллери́йский обстре́л (artilleríjskij obstrél) — heavy artillery fire
  • Russian: канона́да (kanonáda) — heavy artillery fire
  • Spanish: bombardeo — heavy artillery fire
  • Tagalog: tampol — heavy artillery fire
  • Ukrainian: бомбардування (bombarduvannja) — heavy artillery fire
  • Ukrainian: артобстріл (artobstril) — heavy artillery fire
  • Yiddish: באָמבאַרדירן (bombardírn) — heavy artillery fire
  • Finnish: hiukkaspommitus — incidence of stream of high-energy particles
  • Finnish: pommitus — incidence of stream of high-energy particles
  • Japanese: 衝撃 (shōgeki) — incidence of stream of high-energy particles
  • Japanese: 照射 (shōsha) — incidence of stream of high-energy particles
  • Russian: бомбардиро́вка (bombardiróvka) — incidence of stream of high-energy particles
  • Spanish: bombardeo — incidence of stream of high-energy particles
  • Tagalog: tampol — incidence of stream of high-energy particles
  • Tagalog: pagtampol — incidence of stream of high-energy particles
Real reading context

bombardment in complete knowledge articles