boom
verb · noun
Simple meaning
Make a resonant sound, like artillery.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
boomIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈbum
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
Make a resonant sound, like artillery
“His deep voice boomed through the hall.”
Make a deep hollow sound
“Her voice booms out the words of the song.”
To make a loud, hollow, resonant sound.
transitivefigurativelyof speech
To exclaim with force, to shout, to thunder.
intransitive
To flourish, grow, or progress.
Grow vigorously
noun
A low-pitched, resonant sound, such as of an explosion.
A rapid expansion or increase.
A horizontal member of a crane or derrick, used for lifting.
One of the calls of certain monkeys or birds.
A wishbone-shaped piece of windsurfing equipment.
The section of the arm on a backhoe closest to the tractor.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Make a resonant sound, like artillery
Used this way, boom is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a military use: it belongs to service and operational language.
“His deep voice boomed through the hall.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Military
- Historical writing
- News/reporting
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use boom
- “His deep voice boomed through the hall.”verb
- “Her voice booms out the words of the song.”verb
- “The demand for testing has created a boom for those unregulated laboratories where boxes of specimen jars are processed like an assembly line.”noun
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
A member of the baby boom generation in the 1950s.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A portable stereo.
Make a deep hollow sound.
Small semi-evergreen tree of South Africa having dense clusters of clear scarlet flowers and red seeds.
A pole carrying an overhead microphone projected over a film or tv set.
An explosive sound caused by the shock wave of an airplane traveling faster than the speed of sound.
The larger than expected generation in United States born shortly after World War II.
Use This Word
See how this word sounds in a real sentence.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “boom” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.