depth charge
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A form of bomb, launched from a ship or dropped from an aircraft.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dehpthchahrjSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈdɛpθˈtʃɑɹdʒ
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.
noun
militarynauticalaviation
A form of bomb, launched from a ship or dropped from an aircraft, that is designed to detonate at a certain depth underwater for the purposes of attacking a submerged enemy, especially a submarine.
verb
transitivemilitarynauticalaviation
To attack (a target, usually a submarine) with depth charges.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (military, nautical, aviation) A form of bomb, launched from a ship or dropped from an aircraft, that is designed to detonate at a certain depth underwater for the purposes of attacking a submerged enemy, especially a submarine.
Used this way, depth charge is a specialist word with a faintly unfavourable edge. This is a military use: it belongs to service and operational language.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Clinical and detached
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.
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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.