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Glite Dictionary
🎬 A big hit 💣 A huge bomb
blockbuster

blockbuster

4 7.9
A very large bomb that can destroy many buildings in one area
  • noun
  • /ˈblɑkˌbʌstər/
  • Archaic
translation icon : bomba de gran potencia
  • Hunter Golden zeroes in on the implications of the recent Toronto-Miami blockbuster and what it all means for the Boston Red Sox.

Examples

  • North Carolina homeowners have seen no relief on their mortgages from Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and the three other big banks involved in February's blockbuster mortgage settlement, according to the first progress report issued Wednesday.

    Blog text (27)

  • The military dropped a blockbuster on the enemy city, causing massive destruction.

  • This coming fall, a blockbuster to blow you out of the world.

  • This coming fall, a blockbuster to blow you out of the world.

  • Actually, that was just footage from the 1996 blockbuster motion picture Independence Day, but it would be a lot like that.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • While Netflix, Blockbuster, and Redbox have been their primary carriers, a change in strategy has begun.

    Blog text (7)

  • Part of me wonders why last night's blockbuster trade between the Blue Jays and Marlins caught so many people by surprise.

    Blog text (5)

  • During World War II, a powerful blockbuster was designed to level entire city blocks with one explosion.

  • Engineers developed a new blockbuster that could annihilate buildings over a large area.

Synonyms

cluster bomb
vsblockbuster
  • Specialized
8 6.7

A weapon that holds many small explosives which spread out and explode over a wide area

is a single very large explosive meant to destroy a whole city block

How Destructive

nuclear weapon
  • NSFW
634 3.5
blockbuster
  • Archaic
4 7.9
bomb
∞ 1.8
grenade
170 4.4

Surface Forms

blockbuster singular
blockbusters plural

Morphology

blockbuster = block + buster (transparent) = block + bust + er

The original bomb sense is directly motivated by the idea of something that can destroy a block.

Etymology

Blockbuster comes from block ('city block') and buster ('one that breaks'). It was first used for a very large bomb that could destroy a whole block, so a blockbuster is a bomb that destroys an entire area.