saturation bombing
1
8.2
- noun
- /ˈsætʃəˌreɪʃən ˈbɑːmɪŋ/
- NSFW
:
bombardeo de saturación
- Was the U.S. war "moral" when it entailed the saturation bombing of Dresden?
Examples
-
It's hard enough to kill one without saturation bombing.
-
Now, apparently without fear of prosecution, the United States can continue to use cluster bombs at will and more B-52 saturation bombing on small and mostly impoverished countries.
Academic text (2002) -
It was also the birthday of the late Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris... leader of Bomber Command in World War II... the instigator of the saturation bombing of civilian populations in Germany.
-
During the Vietnam War, saturation bombing was used extensively to target enemy supply lines and destroy infrastructure.
-
The military strategy of saturation bombing aimed to devastate the entire region, leaving little to no resources for the opposing forces.
-
Saturation bombing involves the systematic bombing of an area to maximize destruction and incapacitate the enemy's capabilities.
Synonyms
942
3.4
An attack using bombs to damage or scare people
47
7.0
A long, heavy attack with bombs or large guns on a place
5
7.8
An attack using bombs that cause fires to destroy buildings or cities
2
8.0
A military attack that drops many bombs over a wide area without aiming at specific targets
Attacking a large area from the air to destroy many buildings rather than specific targets
How Intense
- NSFW
1
8.2
- Specialized
47
7.0
- Specialized
- Specialized
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase combines 'saturation' (filling or overwhelming to capacity) with 'bombing' (an attack using bombs), so its meaning—intensive, large-scale bombing intended to overwhelm or cover an area—is directly inferable from the parts. This compositional logic is literal and cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can reasonably deduce the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Saturation bombing uses saturation, the idea of soaking something completely, and bombing, attacking with bombs. Imagine pouring so much water on a cloth that every part is wet; in the same way, many bombs are dropped until the whole area is hit. So the phrase means 'to destroy an entire area' by bombing.