View synonyms for bombshell

bombshell

[ bom-shel ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

a bomb.
something or someone having a sudden and sensational effect:
The news of his resignation was a bombshell.

bombshell

/ ˈbɒmˌʃɛl /

(esp formerly) a bomb or artillery shell
a shocking or unwelcome surprise
the news of his death was a bombshell
informal.
an attractive girl or woman (esp in the phrase blonde bombshell )

The whole of Kerguelen seemed to burst like a bomb-shell with a blaze of light shewing islands and sea.

Husband and wife should no more fight to get it than they would struggle for the possession of a lighted bomb-shell.

Meanwhile, the physician attending Mr. Langton has thrown a bomb-shell into that camp.

This bomb-shell was not, however, thrown into Mr. Benson's magazine without an immense amount of smoke and noise.

Stanton looked baffled, as his bomb shell exploded without apparent effect.

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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