Recent Examples on the WebLarge boulders landed within a few feet of several vehicles parked near the slide, according to video from OnSceneTV.—Nathan Solis, Los Angeles Times, 11 Mar. 2024 In Orange County, for example, big boulders have been used at areas such as San Onofre State Beach, along much of San Clemente’s coast and Capistrano Beach to try and keep the water at bay.—Laylan Connelly, Orange County Register, 25 Feb. 2024 At one turn, his path was blocked by a large boulder, a hunk of sedimentary rock.—Alexis Soloski, New York Times, 15 Feb. 2024 And Ben, Reed’s best friend, is totally transformed into, well, a Thing, with giant, orange boulders for a body, giving him super strength — and a perpetual heavy heart about his seemingly monstrous appearance.—Variety, NBC News, 14 Feb. 2024 Cahill shrugged and repositioned the boulder with a percussive thunk.—Ben Goldfarb, Smithsonian Magazine, 13 Feb. 2024 No expense was spared, so the house looks like a European castle with the stone exterior made up of stones pulled out of the property, and every sink in the house is a single boulder from the estate that has been cut and polished.—Cathrine Todd, Forbes, 10 Feb. 2024 The California Coastal Commission often approves the emergency use of boulders to shore up an area battered by waves, sometimes after the revetments have already been set down, and they are rarely removed, despite them being approved just temporarily, Sekich-Quinn said.—Laylan Connelly, Orange County Register, 25 Feb. 2024 The title track dropped earlier this month and is the musical equivalent of a boulder – heavy rock, no nonsense.—Lars Brandle, Billboard, 23 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'boulder.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
short for boulder stone, from Middle English bulder ston, partial translation of a word of Scandinavian origin; akin to Swedish dialect bullersten large stone in a stream, from buller noise + sten stone
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