What does "bosom" mean?
The breast or chest of a human (or sometimes of another animal).
Bosom
adj, noun, verb
adj, noun, verb ·2 syllables ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: The breast or chest of a human (or sometimes of another animal).
- Grammar: bosom is listed as adj, noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: breast, embrace, heart, bag.
- Useful contrasts: abdomen, back, detach.
- Usage evidence: He was happy in the bosom of his family.
How to use "bosom"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "bosom" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "bosom" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "bosom" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "bosom" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "bosom" is acting as adj, noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "breast" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "bosom", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The breast or chest of a human (or sometimes of another animal). dated
"Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes.[…]She put back a truant curl from her forehead where it had sought egress to the world, and looked him full in the face now, drawing a deep breath which caused the round of her bosom to lift the lace at her throat."
- 2 a close affectionate and protective acceptance wordnet
- 3 The seat of one's inner thoughts, feelings, etc.; one's secret feelings; desire.
"my poor dear duke[…], in consequence of the excitement created in his august bosom by her frantic violence and grief, had a fit in which I very nigh lost him."
- 4 cloth that covers the chest or breasts wordnet
- 5 The protected interior or inner part of something; the area enclosed as by an embrace.
"… Mr Toodle … was refreshing himself with tea in the bosom of his family."
Show 8 more definitions
- 6 a person's breast or chest wordnet
- 7 The part of a dress etc. covering the chest; a neckline.
"And he put his hand into his boſome: and when hee tooke it out, behold, his hand was leprous as ſnowe."
- 8 either of two soft fleshy milk-secreting glandular organs on the chest of a woman wordnet
- 9 A breast, one of a woman's breasts
"I dont [sic] know that her bosoms were fuller than usual."
- 10 the locus of feelings and intuitions wordnet
- 11 Any thing or place resembling the breast; a supporting surface; an inner recess; the interior.
"I observed, indeed, that the present war had filled the church with many of these uninhabited monuments, which had been erected to the memory of persons whose bodies were perhaps buried in the plains of Blenheim, or in the bosom of the ocean."
- 12 the chest considered as the place where secret thoughts are kept wordnet
- 13 A depression round the eye of a millstone.
"The bosom of the mill-stone is a central depression, and the staff is adjustable to test the symmetry of the concavity."
Verb
- 1 To enclose or carry in the bosom; to keep with care; to take to heart; to cherish.
"Bosom up my counsel, You’ll find it wholesome."
- 2 hold (someone) tightly in your arms, usually with fondness wordnet
- 3 To conceal; to hide from view; to embosom.
"To happy Convents bosom’d deep in Vines, Where slumber Abbots, purple as their Wines;"
- 4 hide in one's bosom wordnet
- 5 To belly; to billow, swell or bulge. intransitive
"Just above the recess the cliff bosomed out with a full swell for some two or three feet, effectually preventing any one’s looking down into the nest from above […]"
Show 1 more definition
- 6 To belly; to cause to billow, swell or bulge. transitive
"1822, James Hogg, The Three Perils of Man, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, Volume 3, Chapter 12, pp. 440-441, I looked again, and though I was sensible it must be a delusion brought on by the stroke of his powerful rod, yet I did see the appearance of a glorious fleet of ships coming bounding along the surface of the firmament of air, while every mainsail was bosomed out like the side of a Highland mountain."
Adjective
- 1 In a very close relationship. not-comparable
"bosom buddies"
Example
"He was happy in the bosom of his family."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "bosom"?
Common synonyms include: breast, embrace, heart, bag, bear, being.
How do you use "bosom" in a sentence?
He was happy in the bosom of his family.
Etymology
From Middle English bosom, bosum, from Old English bōsm, from Proto-West Germanic *bōsm, from Proto-Germanic *bōsmaz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewH- (“to swell, bend, curve”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Bossem, Bousem (“bosom”), West Frisian boezem (“bosom”), Dutch boezem (“bosom”), German Busen (“bosom”). Related also to Albanian buzë (“lip”), Greek βυζί (vyzí, “breast”), Romanian buză (“lip”), Irish bus (“lip”), and Latin bucca (“cheek”).