pow

Examples

• All

• The officers go for their guns. Jim is up and running. POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW!

  Fiction book (1995)

• Pow, pow, pow.

  Escape Plan: The Extractors (2019)

• Pow pow pow pow pow pow pow pow!

  Guys at Parties Like It (2024)

• Two for you... pow... and one for me.

  The Salon (2005)

• And just as Dave comes around that corner, pow!

  The Borrower (1991)

• Pow, pow, pow!

  Gun (2010)

• POW! The Freddy Doll swings back and bounces right up again.

  Fiction book (1991)

• Down in the field boxes they want Gleason to say, "One of these days, Alice—pow—right to the moon."

  Fiction book (1992)

• But humans were sneaky; they’d seem to be aiming at a shoulder, and then, pow, you’d get an arrow in the eye.

  Fiction book (1991)

• During the game, the boxer landed a punch, and the crowd shouted, 'Pow!'

Synonyms

B

blam

vspow

• Informal

15 9.8

A short word used to show a sudden loud impact in comics

is a sharper, punchier sound for loud hits and explosions

K

kerplunk

vspow

• Informal

9.9

An exclamation said to copy a sudden heavy splash or thud

is a quicker, sharper explosive or gunlike sound rather than a heavy fall

W

whump

vspow

9.9

A short sound people use to show a sudden dull hit

is a sharper loud bang rather than a dull heavy thud

C

clonk

vspow

• Informal

9.9

A short sound people make to copy a dull hit

is a sharper, louder burst used for blasts and gunfire

P

plap

vspow

• Informal

9.9

A short sound like a soft smack or small splash

is a loud, sharp sound used for explosions and gunshots

Compounds

P

POW camp

5 4.3

A camp that holds soldiers captured during a war

How Loud

kaboom

• Informal

14 7.5

to boom

33 3.4

pow

• Informal

37 8.6

to whack

250 5.5

smack

25 3.6

knock

81 1.3

tap

66 1.0

Surface Forms

Etymology