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Glite Dictionary
to bombard with questions

to bombard with questions

1 5.5
Ask someone many quick questions until they cannot answer easily
  • phrasal verb
  • /bɑmˈbɑrd wɪð ˈkwɛsʧənz/
translation icon : bombardear con preguntas
  • After the announcement, she felt overwhelmed as reporters bombarded with questions about her plans.

Examples

  • We knew we'd be bombarded with questions about what happened, and we knew it would be a terrible day.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • Our kids persistently bombard us with questions such as "How come?" "What is this?" "When can I?" and the ever-challenging "Why?"

    Academic text (1990)

  • They'll bombard you with a bunch of questions and vaguely act like this is some kind of defeat for you if you don't have answers for them (while insisting they're just asking a question).

    Blog text (30)

  • During the meeting, the presenter was bombarded with questions from the audience about the new policy.

  • When the teacher finished explaining the project, students bombarded with questions about the requirements.

Synonyms

to bombard
vsto bombard with questions
39 5.6

To give someone many questions or messages quickly

is about quick repeated questioning that overloads the listener
to pump
vsto bombard with questions
18 7.4

Ask someone many questions to get information

uses rapid successive questions that overwhelm rather than slow probing
to bombard with
vsto bombard with questions
13 5.7

To give someone many questions or requests at the same time

focuses on many quick questions that overwhelm and prevent easy answering
to besiege
vsto bombard with questions
12 7.8

To surround a person with many requests and questions

is narrower, focusing on many fast questions rather than general attention
to deluge
vsto bombard with questions
5 7.4

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

focuses specifically on many quick questions that overload the responder
to barrage
vsto bombard with questions
3 7.8

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

is more about rapid questioning that makes answering difficult

Antonyms

to silence
169 3.5

To stop someone from speaking or making noise

How Overwhelming

to bombard with questions
1 5.5
to interrogate
  • Formal
142 6.5
to grill
  • Informal
59 4.9
to quiz
16 2.3
to ask
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

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

Morphology

bombard + with + question

The meaning 'to ask someone so many questions that they become overwhelmed' is directly derivable from combining 'bombard' (to attack/overwhelm) with the instrument phrase 'with questions'. This is a regular verb + with + noun construction and the metaphor of overwhelming is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would likely understand it.

Etymology

Bombard with questions comes from a strong image of an attack: to bombard means to hit someone with many bombs or shots, so imagine being hit by a rain of questions. That's why it means to ask someone so many questions that they feel 'overwhelmed' and cannot answer easily.