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clobber

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

7 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "clobber", 7-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "clobber" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "clobber" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

clobber is aEnglishverb. It means: To hit or bash severely; to seriously harm or damage. Pronounced /ˈklɒb.ə(ɹ)/.

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Key facts for clobber
PropertyValue
Headwordclobber
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/ˈklɒb.ə(ɹ)/
Letters7
Frequency rank#68,099
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of clobber in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for clobber is 7 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈklɒb.ə(ɹ)/. Corpus data places it at rank #68,099 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

No frequent misspelling variants are recorded for clobber in our index, suggesting the orthography either follows predictable English patterns or the word is uncommon enough that typo corpora lack signal.It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: British slang from 1941; possibly onomatopoeic of the sound of detonated bombs in the distance. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is clobber, spelled C-L-O-B-B-E-R, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    To hit or bash severely; to seriously harm or damage.
  2. 2
    To overwrite (data) or override (an assignment of a value), often unintentionally or unexpectedly.

Etymology

British slang from 1941; possibly onomatopoeic of the sound of detonated bombs in the distance.

This word in other languages

Frequency rank: #68,099 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "clobber"?
"clobber" is spelled C-L-O-B-B-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈklɒb.ə(ɹ)/.
What does "clobber" mean?
As a verb, "clobber" means: To hit or bash severely; to seriously harm or damage.
How do you pronounce "clobber"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "clobber" is /ˈklɒb.ə(ɹ)/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "clobber"?
British slang from 1941; possibly onomatopoeic of the sound of detonated bombs in the distance. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter C in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.