clobber

1 of 2

noun

clob·​ber ˈklä-bər How to pronounce clobber (audio)
Synonyms of clobbernext
British slang
: clothes sense 1

clobber

2 of 2

verb

clobbered; clobbering ˈklä-b(ə-)riŋ How to pronounce clobber (audio)

transitive verb

1
: to pound mercilessly
also : to hit with force
clobber a home run
2
a
: to defeat overwhelmingly
b
: to have a strongly negative impact on
businesses clobbered by the recession
c
: to criticize harshly

Synonyms

Noun

Verb

See All Synonyms & Antonyms in Thesaurus

Examples of clobber in a Sentence

Noun Just dump your clobber anywhere. still wearing the same clobber he wore as an undergrad at Cambridge Verb If you say anything I'll clobber you. We clobbered them in our last game. Businesses are being clobbered by the bad economy.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Noun
Juno Temple’s character Dot nearly clobbers Gator with a nail bat — an object often associated with your Stranger Things character Steve Harrington — during their Halloween brawl in episode 4. — EW.com, 7 June 2024 Neat, said engineers at the University of Southern California and the University of California, Irvine, who’ve invented a clever kind of material based on the mantis shrimp’s clobber-sticks. — Matt Simon, Wired, 22 Feb. 2021
Verb
Wells clobbered it, sending it 103.7 mph on a low liner over just over the right-field wall. — Brendan Kuty, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2025 This all comes as the tourism industry continues to dig out of the hole left by the COVID-19 pandemic, which clobbered the hospitality sector. — Joe Hernandez, NPR, 6 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for clobber

Word History

Etymology

Noun

origin unknown

Verb

origin unknown

First Known Use

Noun

1879, in the meaning defined above

Verb

circa 1942, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of clobber was in 1879

Rhymes for clobber

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Browse Nearby Words

clob
clobber
clobberer
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Clobber.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/clobber. Accessed 31 Mar. 2025.

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Kids Definition

clobber

verb
clob·​ber
ˈkläb-ər
1
: to hit with force
2
: to defeat by a wide margin

More from Merriam-Webster on clobber

Nglish: Translation of clobber for Spanish Speakers

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