Word.ws English Dictionary

bloom

UK/bluːm/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/blʉwm/

bloom noun: a blossom; the flower of a plant; an expanded bud.

Noun (1)

bloom (countable and uncountable, plural blooms)

  1. A blossom; the flower of a plant; an expanded bud.
    • the rich blooms and enamelled vegetation of the tropics1843, William H[ickling] Prescott, History of the Conquest of Mexico, […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Harper and Brothers, […], →OCLC
    Synonyms:
    blossom, flower
  2. (collective) Flowers.
  3. (uncountable) The opening of flowers in general; the state of blossoming or of having the flowers open.
    • The cherry trees are in bloom.
    • sight of vernal bloom1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
  4. (figuratively) A state or time of beauty, freshness, and vigor; an opening to higher perfection, analogous to that of buds into blossoms.
    • the bloom of youth
    • every successive mother had transmitted to her child a fainter bloom, a more delicate and briefer beauty.1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC
    Synonyms:
    prime
  5. Rosy colour; the flush or glow on a person's cheek.
  6. The delicate, powdery coating upon certain growing or newly-gathered fruits or leaves, as on grapes, plums, etc.
    • The bloom on blueberries is the dusty powder that protects them from the Sun; it does not rinse off.2010, Donna Pliner Rodnitzky, Low-Carb Smoothies
  7. Anything giving an appearance of attractive freshness.
    • a new, fresh, brilliant world, with all the bloom upon it1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 2, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC
    Synonyms:
    flush, glow
  8. An algal bloom.
    • Where upwellings or other sources of nutrients allow Ehux to abound, it can proliferate, as blooms, to the point that the ocean turns milky.2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 28
  9. (collective) A group of jellyfish, especially one caused by a swift increase in the population and especially when they are stranded on shore; the occurrence of such a bloom, and the ecological impact it has.
  10. The clouded appearance which varnish sometimes takes upon the surface of a picture.
  11. A yellowish deposit or powdery coating which appears on well-tanned leather.
  12. A bright-hued variety of some minerals.
    • the rose-red cobalt bloom
Show 7 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. A white area of cocoa butter that forms on the surface of chocolate when warmed and cooled.
  2. A natural protective coating on an eggshell.
  3. An undesirable halo effect that may occur when a very bright region is displayed next to a very dark region of the screen.
  4. The increase in bullet spread over time as a gun's trigger is kept held.
    • Bloom does add a skill element, burst firing the weapon instead of holding the trigger down, but it's questionable if adding a skill element like that is the actual intent of bloom, because that’s a pretty lame and linear skill element to add, requiring people to tap the button instead of hold it...2018 February 21, “Bullet Bloom: An FPS Tragedy”, in CritPoints
  5. (Philippines, plural-normally, slang) A fan of Filipino girl group BINI.
  6. (collective) A large swarm of ladybugs.
    • Thousands of the little red and black insects took flight at the same time, and the bloom stretched for 10 miles before they landed.2019 June 6, “A gaggle, a confusion and a conspiracy - bizarre animal collective group names”, in BBC
    • Though the bloom appeared to be a massive 80 miles by 80 miles on the radar, Dandrea believes the lady beetles were not flying in a concentrated mass that big.2019 June 7, Meera D., “"Rain Cloud" On Weather Radar Turns Out To Be A Ladybug Swarm”, in DoGo News
  7. A residue left on a surface as a result of a chemical process.
    • A thin yellowish "bloom" covered the film, but this polished off as before, and the metallic silver took a perfectly "black" polish.1892, Royal Astronomical Society, Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society, volumes 50-51, Blackwell Scientific, page 162

Verb

bloom (third-person singular simple present blooms, present participle blooming, simple past and past participle bloomed)

  1. (transitive) To cause to blossom; to make flourish.
    • Charitable affection bloomed them.[1594], Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Iohn Windet, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page)
  2. (transitive) To bestow a bloom upon; to make blooming or radiant.
    • The Tree of Life[…]blooming Ambrosial Fruit Of vegetable Gold.1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
    • Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they? / Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,— / While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day, / And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue; [...]1819 September 19, John Keats, “To Autumn”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1820, →OCLC, stanza 3, page...
  3. (intransitive) Of a plant, to produce blooms; to open its blooms.
    • A flower which once / In Paradise, fast by the tree of life, / Began to bloom.1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
    Synonyms:
    blossom, flower
  4. (figuratively, intransitive) To spread; to slowly expand like a field of flowers that blossom in fits and spurts.
    • Shadows bloomed over the yard.
    • Anger bloomed up from his throat.
  5. (figuratively, intransitive) Of a person, business, etc, to flourish; to be in a state of healthful, growing youth and vigour; to show beauty and freshness.
    • Nurse Cramer had a cute nose and a radiant, blooming complexion dotted with fetching sprays of adorable freckles that Yossarian detested.1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 171
    • The attacking three have also been allowed to bloom. Liberated from deep defensive duties Eden Hazard has become more expressive, more obviously, flashily complete.2017 May 13, Barney Ronay, “Antonio Conte’s brilliance has turned Chelsea’s pop-up team into champions”, in the Guardian
  6. To bring out the flavor of a spice by cooking it in oil.
  7. (intransitive) To develop a layer of bloom (white, spotty areas of cocoa butter) due to repeated warming and cooling.
  8. To let carbon dioxide to escape from coffee in order to improve the taste.
  9. To hydrate ingredients (such as gelatin or yeast) before using them.
    Synonyms:
    proof, rehydrate

Noun (2)

bloom (plural blooms)

  1. The spongy mass of metal formed in a furnace by the smelting process.
    • These metallic bodies gradually increasing in volume finally conglomerate into a larger mass, the bloom, which is extracted from the furnace with tongs.1957, H.R. Schubert, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry, page 26

Proper noun capitalized: Bloom

Bloom

  1. A surname.
    • Jay Bloom described the experience of learning what happened to the Titan as “very surreal”.2023 June 24, Chris Lau and Sara Smart, “‘That could’ve been us,’ say father and son who pulled out of doomed Titan trip out of safety concerns”, in CNN
  2. A ghost town in Otero County, Colorado.
  3. An unincorporated community and township in Ford County, Kansas.
  4. A town in Richland County, Wisconsin.
  5. A number of other townships, including in Illinois, Kansas (2 or 3), Minnesota, Ohio (5), and Pennsylvania, listed under Bloom Township.

bloom meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

bloom in Hindi

to bloom, glow, become radiant
खिलना khilnā
bloom, blossom
बहारा bahārā
bloom
बहार bahār

bloom in Tamil

பூத்தொகுதி, பொலிவு, மலர்ச்சி, பிழம்பு, மொட்டு, அலரிரும்பு

bloom in Marathi

to bloom, blossom, be well kindled
फुलणे phulṇe

bloom in Urdu

the state of blossoming
کھلنا khilnā
More languagesFewer languages
bloom in Bengali
ফোটা phōṭa, বাহারা bahara
bloom in Telugu
గోము gōmu, నూగు nūgu
bloom in Malayalam
പൂവ്
bloom in Kannada
ಹೂವು, ಹೂ, ಪುಷ್ಪ, ಅರಳಿದ ಹೂ
bloom in Gujarati
ખીલવું khīlvũ, પાંગરવું pā̃garvũ
bloom in Assamese
মেলা mela

Examples of bloom in a sentence

  • We can have some more / Nature is a whore / Bruises on the fruit / Tender age in bloom1992, “In Bloom”, in Kurt Cobain (lyrics), Nevermind, performed by Nirvana:
  • A better country blooms to view, / Beneath a brighter sky.a. 1788, John Logan, A Tale:

All 40 example sentences with bloom

Synonyms of bloom

All synonyms of bloom

Forms of bloom

Noun
pluralblooms
Verb
third-person singular presentblooms
present participleblooming
past participlebloomed
pastbloomed

Past tense of bloom: bloomed

Plural of bloom: blooms

Origin of bloom

From Middle English blome, from Old Norse blóm, from Proto-Germanic *blōmô (“flower”). Doublet of bloom (“spongy mass of metal”); see there for more.

From Middle English bloom (“a blossom”).

From Middle English blome, from Old English blōma (“lump of metal”), from Proto-Germanic *blōmô (“flower”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian Bloom, bluum, blööm (“flower”), Saterland Frisian Bloume (“flower”), West Frisian and Limburgish blom (“flower”), Bavarian Bleame, Bleaml, Bleampl (“flower”), Dutch bloem, blom (“flower”), German Blume (“flower”), Luxembourgish Blumm (“flower”), Vilamovian błum (“flower”), West Flemish blomme (“flower”), Yiddish בלום (blum, “flower”), Danish blomme (“flower”), Faroese blóma (“flower”), Icelandic blóm (“flower”), Norwegian Nynorsk blom, blome (“flower”), Swedish blomma (“flower”), Gothic 𐌱𐌻𐍉𐌼𐌰 (blōma, “lily”), Vandalic *bluma (“flower”); also Breton bleuñv (“flowers; flowering”), Cornish blejan, blejen, bleujen, bleujenn (“blossom, flower”), Irish bláth (“flower”), Manx blaa (“flower; heyday”), Scottish Gaelic blàth (“bloom, blossom, flower; consequence, effect; heyday”), Welsh blodyn (“flower”), Latin flōs (“blossom, flower”), Greek φύλλο (fýllo, “leaf; blade; sheet; foil, plate”), Armenian բող (boġ), բոխի (boxi, “a kind of bitter field-plant, probably horse fennel, Hippomarathrum or a kind of fennel or wild parsley”), Tocharian A pält...

Words formed from bloom

Phrases with bloom

Words that rhyme with bloom

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about bloom

What does bloom mean?
Bloom means a blossom; the flower of a plant; an expanded bud.
What is bloom in Hindi?
Bloom in Hindi is खिलना (khilnā), बहारा (bahārā), बहार (bahār). See Bloom meaning in Hindi.
How do you use bloom in a sentence?
We can have some more / Nature is a whore / Bruises on the fruit / Tender age in bloom
What part of speech is bloom?
Bloom can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce bloom?
Bloom is pronounced /bluːm/ (UK).
What is the plural of bloom?
The plural of bloom is blooms.

Words near bloom in the dictionary

  1. bloodynouns
  2. blooey
  3. blooie
  4. blook
  5. blooks
  6. bloom
  7. Bloom filter
  8. Bloom filters
  9. bloom is off the peach
  10. bloom is off the rose
  11. Bloom syndrome

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bloom (page history and authors); Bloom (page history and authors); खिलना (Hindi) (page history and authors); bloom (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); फुलणे (Marathi) (page history and authors); ফোটা (Bengali) (page history and authors); గోము (Telugu) (page history and authors); bloom (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bloom (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ખીલવું (Gujarati) (page history and authors); মেলা (Assamese) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-bloom.ogg.

Cite this entry: “bloom.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bloom. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.