as in shaved
to make (something) shorter or smaller with the use of a cutting instrument
bobbed her waist-length hair herself on her 18th birthday
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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2
as in smacked
to deliver a blow to (someone or something) usually in a strong vigorous manner
he playfully bobbed his brother on the nose to get his attention
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Recent Examples of bobbed
Eric Lagatta, USA Today, 29 Apr. 2026
Draped across a sumptuous velvet chaise longue within the art deco splendour of Eltham Palace, Susie Cave is moonlighting as a fabulous Biba-bobbed lady of the manor.
—Alice Newbold, Vogue, 20 Apr. 2026
Pink poodles with long black eyelashes danced in a can-can line, a quartet of googly-eyed cacti bobbed along to the music and a trio of small white dogs galloped on the stage.
—Rebecca Castillo, Los Angeles Times, 16 Apr. 2026
Koch bobbed by again, this time with glasses and a Harry Potter lightning bolt doodled on her face.
—Michael Tedder, The Atlantic, 12 Apr. 2026
Red and black balloons bobbed in the evening breeze as roughly 100 people assembled, including family members and students and teachers from South Hills High School, where Washington studied and played basketball.
—Lillie Davidson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 10 Apr. 2026
Cameras bobbed and staffers thronged.
—Molly Fischer, New Yorker, 10 Apr. 2026
The airline placed everyone seeking information in a conference room that overlooked the Potomac River, where the wreckage of Flight 5342 bobbed in the water.
—Brit McCandless Farmer, CBS News, 29 Mar. 2026
Silver patches poke through deep chestnut hair that, not long ago, bobbed in a ponytail on her long runs.
—Gerald Witt, AJC.com, 1 Mar. 2026
Verb
Crews then raced to recover the astronauts aboard the vehicle, which bobbed for a few hours in the Pacific Ocean near California.
—Eric Lagatta, USA Today, 29 Apr. 2026
Draped across a sumptuous velvet chaise longue within the art deco splendour of Eltham Palace, Susie Cave is moonlighting as a fabulous Biba-bobbed lady of the manor.
—Alice Newbold, Vogue, 20 Apr. 2026
Pink poodles with long black eyelashes danced in a can-can line, a quartet of googly-eyed cacti bobbed along to the music and a trio of small white dogs galloped on the stage.
—Rebecca Castillo, Los Angeles Times, 16 Apr. 2026
Koch bobbed by again, this time with glasses and a Harry Potter lightning bolt doodled on her face.
—Michael Tedder, The Atlantic, 12 Apr. 2026
Red and black balloons bobbed in the evening breeze as roughly 100 people assembled, including family members and students and teachers from South Hills High School, where Washington studied and played basketball.
—Lillie Davidson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 10 Apr. 2026
Cameras bobbed and staffers thronged.
—Molly Fischer, New Yorker, 10 Apr. 2026
The airline placed everyone seeking information in a conference room that overlooked the Potomac River, where the wreckage of Flight 5342 bobbed in the water.
—Brit McCandless Farmer, CBS News, 29 Mar. 2026
Silver patches poke through deep chestnut hair that, not long ago, bobbed in a ponytail on her long runs.
—Gerald Witt, AJC.com, 1 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Bobbed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bobbed. Accessed 1 May. 2026.
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