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to bombard with

to bombard with

13 5.7
To give someone many questions or requests at the same time
  • phrasal verb
  • /bɑmˈbɑrd wɪð/
translation icon : bombardear con
  • I feel that people are bombarded with lots of different causes that they can get involved in.
  • bombarded with information

So now I'm, you know, they're bombarding me with spam.

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Examples

  • Seniors are being bombarded with conflicting information and a myriad of diverse pressures.

    Academic text (1992)
  • Teachers often find themselves bombarded with demands from students and parents for additional resources.

  • So basically we're bombarded with so much information.

  • You know, people are being bombarded with more and more content.

  • We are constantly bombarded with thoughts like this.

  • A day hardly passes that we are not bombarded with many different kinds of statistics.

    Academic text (2007)
  • There are multiple reasons why we are constantly being bombarded with messages and intrusions.

    Blog text (21)
  • When I say we're bombarded with information, we're bombarded with misinformation, disinformation, fake news.

  • During the meeting, the team was bombarded with questions from the audience about the new project.

  • As soon as the news broke, the spokesperson was bombarded with requests for statements from the press.

Synonyms

to bombard
vsto bombard with
39 5.6

To give someone many questions or messages quickly

focuses more on a rapid, overwhelming burst at once rather than steady flow
to pester
vsto bombard with
34 3.2

To annoy someone by asking for things again and again

means a rapid or overwhelming onslaught rather than habitual annoyance
to besiege
vsto bombard with
12 7.8

To surround a person with many requests and questions

emphasizes a swift flood of items at once rather than ongoing persistence
to deluge
vsto bombard with
5 7.4

To give someone so much work or so many requests that they cannot cope

is targeted at a person with rapid repeated acts rather than general quantity
to barrage
vsto bombard with
3 7.8

To send a large fast stream of questions or messages to someone

is similar but can stress sudden mass amounts rather than only steady streams
to bombard with questions
vsto bombard with
1 5.5

Ask someone many quick questions until they cannot answer easily

is broader, applying to rapid overwhelming acts beyond only questions

Antonyms

1.0

Choose not to pay attention to someone or something

How Overwhelming

to bombard with
13 5.7
to pepper
20 5.5
to pester
34 3.2

Surface Forms

bombard with infinitive
bombarded with past participle
bombarding with present participle
bombards with third person singular

Morphology

bombard + with

The meaning is directly derivable from combining 'bombard' (to overwhelm or deluge) with the preposition 'with' indicating the thing used or inflicted; a learner who knows both words can infer that someone is being overwhelmed by questions/requests. This verb + with pattern is a productive, compositional construction (and has parallels in other languages), so the sense is transparent to B1 learners who know the constituents.

Etymology

Bombard with may come from the image of soldiers who would bombard a town with many stones or small bombs, hitting it again and again. That's why today bombard with means to give someone many questions or messages at once, to 'overwhelm' them.