Meaning & use
air raid
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A sudden attack by military aircraft, especially one that drops bombs on a place.
Grammar: Countable: you can say an air raid or several air raids.
Patterns
- an air raid on a place
- an air raid warning
- during an air raid
The city suffered a heavy air raid during the war.
When the air raid warning sounded, everyone rushed to the shelters.
Many buildings were destroyed in the air raid on the harbor.
Word forms
| plural | air raids |
|---|
Common combinations
- air raid warning
- The air raid warning sent people running for cover.
- air raid shelter
- They hid in an air raid shelter until the bombing stopped.
- air raid siren
- The air raid siren wailed across the city.
- carry out an air raid
- The planes carried out an air raid on the enemy base.
- survive an air raid
- My grandfather survived an air raid on his neighborhood.
Synonyms and how they differ
- bombing
- Bombing is more general and can be done by any method, while air raid usually means an attack from aircraft.
- air strike
- Air strike is used more for modern, targeted military attacks, not usually for raids on cities.
Word family
Commonly confused: air raid or air-raid?
air raid vs air-raid
The adjective form is spelled with a hyphen, as in air-raid shelter, while the noun is usually written as two words: an air raid.
Practice
The planes dropped bombs on the town during a night ______.
Choose one answer.
The noun phrase 'air raid' fits after 'a night'. 'Air-raid' is the adjective form and would need a noun after it; 'air raiding' is not a standard noun; 'air raids' is plural and does not match 'a night'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “air raid”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.