How to use clobber in a sentence

13 example sentences · verb, noun

Clobber means to hit or bash severely; to seriously harm or damage. Example: “So the temptation to clobber was always there, and it was sometimes more difficult not to strike than it would have been to strike, and the consequences be damned.”

Examples of clobber by meaning

verbTo hit or bash severely; to seriously harm or damage.

So the temptation to clobber was always there, and it was sometimes more difficult not to strike than it would have been to strike, and the consequences be damned.1954, Evan Hunter, The Blackboard Jungle, published 1984, page 201

verbTo overwrite (data) or override (an assignment of a value), often unintentionally or unexpectedly.

In the slang of computer programmers, the second re-entry address is likely to "clobber" the machine's memory of the original re-entry address.1966, George A. Miller, “Thinking machines: myths and actualities”, in Daniel Bell, Irving Kristol, editors, The Public Interest, volume 2...
Inferences made in accordance with this reason are defeated by finding that the merged plan clobbers one of the causal-links in one of the constituent plans.1999, Michael J. Wooldridge, Anand Rao, Foundations of Rational Agency, page 74
The cp command does one thing as it clobbers a file; mv and ln do another.2004, John R. Levine, Margaret Levine Young, Unix for Dummies, page 314

nounA beating.

Near-synonyms: clobbering, clubbing, thumping

nounClothing; clothes.

Now to get rid of this respectable clobber and feel like a man again.1900, [George] Bernard Shaw, “Captain Brassbound’s Conversion”, in Three Plays for Puritans: The Devil’s Disciple, Cæsar and Cleopatra, &...
"Now just you put on that there clobber, chum," he said, stepping back.1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 134
I went to one in Woolwich, south-east London, which is one of the first stores to welcome the Pep&Co range, to road test the new uber-cheap clobber for myself.2017 March 30, Gemma Mullin, “We road test new uber-cheap clobber as Poundland rolls-out its own clothing range – but there’s a twist”, in...

More sentences with clobber

However, in June Boris Johnson hinted that he might scrap plans for a ‘milkshake tax’ that would ‘clobber those who can least afford it’.2019 October, Kate Quinlan, “I do not think there is a ‘magic bullet’”, in British Dental Journal, page 653. From the entry milkshake tax
It seems as if they traded in the complexity of a full range of troubling emotion for the clobbering pathos of the shouting match.2012, Scott Hales, My Final Verdict on 'A Roof Overhead'. From the entry clobbering
Maybe he over-learned the lesson of the clobbering Bill Clinton got when he barged into this area right at the start of his presidency.2010 October 14, “An own goal on gay rights”, in The Economist. From the entry overlearn
The fight is led by two hyperarticulate heavyweights, both Ivy League graduates, each using his decades of experience in battling corporations to clobber the other.2009 February 8, Steven Greenhouse, “Two Unions in Marriage Now Face Divorce Talks”, in New York Times. From the entry hyperarticulate
She wasn′t sure if Lena looked more surprised by her clobbering hug or the sight of her pyjamas on the bright New York City sidewalk.2007, Ann Brashares, Summers of the Sisterhood: Forever in Blue, page 178. From the entry pyjamas

Meaning of clobber

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

Full definition of clobber

Questions about clobber in a sentence

How do you use clobber in a sentence?: Clobber is used as a verb and noun. For example: “So the temptation to clobber was always there, and it was sometimes more difficult not to strike than it would have been to strike, and the consequences be damned.”
What is a short sentence with clobber?: “Near-synonyms: clobbering, clubbing, thumping”
What does clobber mean?: Clobber means to hit or bash severely; to seriously harm or damage.

Adapted from Wiktionary: clobber (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use clobber in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/clobber. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.