air raid: meaning, definition, pronunciation and examples
C1/C2 (Historical/Contextual)Formal, Historical, Military
Quick answer
What does “air raid” mean?
A military attack by aircraft dropping bombs on a target.
Audio
Pronunciation
Definition
Meaning and Definition
A military attack by aircraft dropping bombs on a target.
Any sudden, overwhelming assault or incursion; historically refers specifically to bombings during wars, particularly WWII.
Dialectal Variation
British vs American Usage
Differences
Both varieties use the term identically. The experience and historical memory of 'The Blitz' makes the term more viscerally resonant in British English.
Connotations
UK: Deeply connected to national memory of WWII, evacuation, Blitz spirit. US: Less personal collective memory, more associated with historical accounts or foreign conflicts.
Frequency
Higher frequency in UK English in historical/documentary contexts. Similar low frequency in modern active use in both varieties.
Grammar
How to Use “air raid” in a Sentence
VERB + air raid: launch, survive, experience, hear, take cover fromADJECTIVE + air raid: heavy, devastating, nightly, sudden, terrifyingVocabulary
Collocations
Examples
Examples of “air raid” in a Sentence
noun
British English
- The air raid last night destroyed the railway station.
- Everyone hurried to the Anderson shelter when the air raid siren sounded.
- He served as an air raid warden in London.
American English
- Newsreels showed the devastation caused by the air raid.
- The air raid on Pearl Harbor changed the course of the war.
- Cities conducted regular air raid drills.
Usage
Meaning in Context
Business
Metaphorically: 'The company faced an air raid of negative press.'
Academic
Used in historical, military, and sociological studies of 20th-century warfare.
Everyday
Almost exclusively in historical discussion or metaphor. 'Grandad told stories about the air raids.'
Technical
Military history term. Also in civil defense/emergency planning contexts.
Watch out
Common Mistakes When Using “air raid”
- Using 'air strike' interchangeably in historical contexts (air strike is more modern/post-WWII).
- Misspelling as one word 'airraid'.
- Incorrect preposition: 'under air raid' instead of 'during an air raid'.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Not typically. Modern military parlance uses terms like 'air strike', 'airstrike', or 'precision strike'. 'Air raid' is now chiefly historical.
An 'air raid' implies a larger-scale, often less precise attack on an area (like a city), common in WWII. An 'air strike' is a more modern term often suggesting a single, targeted mission against a specific objective.
Rarely. While 'to raid' is a verb, the phrase 'air raid' is almost exclusively a compound noun. You would say 'to bomb' or 'to launch an air raid on'.
Because the phenomenon required a whole new civil defense infrastructure. These compounds entered the language to describe the new objects, roles, and procedures created to deal with the threat.
A military attack by aircraft dropping bombs on a target.
Air raid is usually formal, historical, military in register.
Air raid: in British English it is pronounced /ˈeə ˌreɪd/, and in American English it is pronounced /ˈɛr ˌreɪd/. Tap the audio buttons above to hear it.
Phrases
Idioms & Phrases
- “'Blitz spirit' (derived from air raids)”
- “'Like an air raid siren' (metaphor for a loud, alarming sound)”
Learning
Memory Aids
Mnemonic
Imagine the AIR being RAIDED by enemy planes.
Conceptual Metaphor
WAR IS A FORCE OF NATURE (a storm of bombs); AN ATTACK IS A RAID (sudden, plundering incursion).
Practice
Quiz
Which of these is most strongly associated with the term 'air raid' in a British historical context?