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anti-personnel bomb

anti-personnel bomb

1 7.0
A bomb that sends out many small metal pieces to injure or kill people
  • noun
  • /ˌæntiˈpɜrsənəl bɑm/
  • NSFW
translation icon : bomba antipersonal
  • The military deployed an anti-personnel bomb to target enemy troops in the area.

Examples

  • The army used an anti-personnel bomb to prevent enemy soldiers from advancing.

  • Fragments from the anti-personnel bomb caused injuries over a wide area.

  • Many international organizations advocate for the ban of the anti-personnel bomb due to its impact on civilians.

  • The anti-personnel bomb exploded.

  • Don't use anti-personnel bombs!

  • During the conflict, reports emerged of the use of anti-personnel bombs in civilian-populated zones.

  • An anti-personnel bomb can severely injure anyone within its blast radius by scattering sharp fragments.

Synonyms

daisy cutter
vsanti-personnel bomb
  • NSFW
1 9.8

A bomb that breaks into many small fast metal pieces to hit soldiers and vehicles

is designed to harm people rather than to damage vehicles or equipment
antipersonnel device
vsanti-personnel bomb
  • NSFW
1 8.1

A weapon made to injure or kill people rather than damage machines

is a specific explosive using heavy casings and many small fragments to kill people
fragmentation bomb
vsanti-personnel bomb
  • Specialized
8.1

A weapon that explodes and sends metal pieces at high speed to hurt people and damage things nearby

focuses specifically on injuring people using mostly casings and small fragments

How Lethal

anti-personnel bomb
  • NSFW
1 7.0
lethal
1 4.3
nonlethal
7 4.2

Surface Forms

Morphology

anti-personnel + bomb

The meaning is compositionally clear: anti- (against) + personnel (people/staff) + bomb (explosive device) yields a bomb intended to harm people rather than materiel. This basic sense is readily inferable by a learner who knows the constituent parts (even if the technical detail about fragmentation is specialised), and the construction is cross-linguistically transparent.

Etymology

Anti-personnel bomb: The name anti-personnel bomb comes from a simple idea: anti means 'against', personnel means 'people' or 'soldiers', and bomb is an explosive, so the name means a bomb made to hurt people. That's why today it means a weapon meant to injure or kill people.