baby boom
12
3.3
- noun
- /ˈbeɪbi buːm/
:
baby boom
- For many members of the baby boom generation, it was traumatic.
- baby boom generation
- baby boom era
- aging of the baby boom
I was like, the baby boom is ending with a whimper.
- I was like, the baby boom is ending with a whimper.
- It was the ascendancy of a baby boom, which in some ways is the opposite, but in that that's when the competition with Japan hits.
- One factor probably is it's a bit morbid, but mortality, salience when people, this seems to be why there are post war baby booms.
Examples
-
I came of age as a member of the baby-boom generation born after World War II.
Academic text (1993) -
Educators now argue that these percentages increased because the baby boom entered the workforce.
Academic text (1990) -
Whenever possible, social studies teachers of the baby boom generation participate in the discussion.
Academic text (2003) -
The results of our research add to our understanding of what the large baby-boom population may demand.
Academic text (2011) -
Now, however, the baby boom workforce has passed through this age range, leaving a smaller workforce to follow.
Academic text (2001) -
If it did, there should have been a baby boom in post-Communist Russia.
Academic text (2005) -
By the early 1960s, the "baby boom" generation was reaching university age, leading to another enrollment bulge.
Academic text (2001) -
One of the newest challenges U.S. society will face as the baby-boom population ages is the appropriate lexicon for people in their retirement years.
Academic text (2011) -
In southern states such as Texas and Mississippi, most rural community colleges established prior to the baby-boom era have on-campus housing.
Academic text (2008) -
The baby boom in the United States led to a significant increase in school enrollments during the 1960s.
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'baby' (infants) combined with 'boom' (a sharp sustained increase) yields an increase in the number of babies/births. This noun+noun compounding pattern is regular in English and occurs cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Baby boom comes from joining baby with boom, where boom suggests a sudden, loud event like an explosion to picture many births happening quickly. That's why baby boom means 'a sudden large rise in births', especially after World War II.