❓ To ask nonstop 💣 To attack repeatedly 🔬 To hit with particles 🎶 A wind instrument

to bombard

13 5.4

To attack something repeatedly by throwing things like stones or bombs

verb
/bɑmˈbɑrd/

: bombardear

The German Luftwaffe relentlessly bombards downtown London, while Churchill's Royal Air Force is in a deadly struggle to maintain control of the British skies.

My hometown, my schools were all bombarded and destroyed.

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Examples

On April 6, 1941, German air forces bombarded the capital Belgrade and initiated a war against the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

Academic text (2015)
The Germans were bombarded day and night by British artillery and aircraft.

Fiction book (1996)
The four US ships then began to bombard Peel Island as the US aircraft arrived.
I think, you know, as we get into the final straight, they are going to be bombarded by those big guns.

Triggernometry
So American forces were bombarding these islands.

Harvard University
Napoleon soon arrives and positions guns to bombard the Austrians on the far bank.
In early August, Ottoman artillery began to bombard the fortress walls.
The soldiers used heavy artillery to bombard the enemy's fortifications throughout the night.
During the conflict, planes continuously bombarded the target area with precision strikes.
The protesters were bombarded with questions from reporters as they marched through the city.

Synonyms

to bomb

vsto bombard

300 3.1

To attack a place by dropping explosive devices from planes

covers repeated attacks by throwing or launching various objects, not only drops

to shell

vsto bombard

27 7.9

To fire metal containers filled with explosives at a place or people to cause damage

uses repeated launching of objects rather than only explosive projectiles

to pepper

vsto bombard

20 5.5

To hit something with many small things or to ask someone many quick questions

focuses on repeated launches of various sized objects rather than only small ones

to clobber

vsto bombard

NSFW

19 7.7

To hit someone or something very hard many times

involves repeated projectile attacks rather than direct physical hitting

to firebomb

vsto bombard

Offensive

8 7.3

To attack a place by throwing a bomb that starts fires

is a repeated launching of objects generally, not only incendiary attacks

to blitz

vsto bombard

1 7.4

To attack a place suddenly and heavily, often by bombing from planes

describes sudden heavy strikes rather than repeated launches over time

to cannonade

vsto bombard

Formal

1 9.9

To attack a place with heavy guns like cannons for some time

is general repeated launching rather than specifically heavy long attacks

to fusillade

vsto bombard

Literature

9.9

To fire a quick series of shots at someone or something

attacks repeatedly but not necessarily in such rapid successive bursts

Antonyms

to defend

∞ 1.3

To protect people and things from attack or harm

Phrasal Verbs

to bombard with

13 5.7

To give someone many questions or requests at the same time

to bombard with questions

1 5.5

Ask someone many quick questions until they cannot answer easily

How Intense

to bombard

13 5.4

to shell

27 7.9

to blast

137 4.9

to pelt

12 5.5

to pepper

20 5.5

Surface Forms

bombard infinitive

bombarded past

bombarded past participle

bombarding present participle

bombards third person singular

Morphology

bombard = bomb (semi-transparent) = bomb + ard

The verb appears related to 'bomb' so learners can infer a meaning of attacking with explosive/projectile force, but the '-ard' element is a borrowed/less productive ending and the exact formation is historically from French rather than a regular English suffix.

Etymology

Bombard comes from the name of an old heavy weapon, like a cannon, and from the idea of a loud bomb or 'boom'. So to bombard someone originally meant to attack them again and again, which is why we use it for repeated throwing or shooting today.