Blitz Meaning
/blɪts/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA sudden attack, especially an air raid; usually with reference to the Blitz.
nounA swift and overwhelming attack or effort.
Sentence Examples
The police are having a blitz on drink driving, hooliganism and hoon driving this weekend.
The US led a blitz campaign against Iraq.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The defensive ____ confused the quarterback so much that he was sacked three times.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The team launched a ____ to finish the whole project in one week.
Word Origin & History
Clipping of blitzkrieg, from German Blitzkrieg (literally “lightning war”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Ultimately, though, Liverpool had inflicted a grievous result in the first leg when they scored three times in a 19-minute blitz and, importantly, did not concede an away goal."
— 2018 April 10, Daniel Taylor, “Liverpool go through after Mohamed Salah stops Manchester City fightback”, in The Guardian:
"He [Yoshihide Suga] seems to be counting on a media blitz with feel-good effects around the Games to improve his sagging popularity."
— 2021 March 25, Koichi Nakano, “The Olympics Are On! But Why?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
"Liberal activists promised a well-funded summertime blitz, replete with home-state rallies and million-dollar ad campaigns, to try to ramp up pressure on a handful of Senate Democrats opposed to changing the rules."
— 2021 June 22, Nicholas Fandos, “Republicans Block Voting Rights Bill, Dealing Blow to Biden and Democrats”, in The New York Times:
"As well as its revamped search bar, Google unveiled a blitz of other innovations that point to the longer-term evolution of the product."
— 2025 May 24, Stephen Morris, Melissa Heikkilä, Cristina Criddle, “Defending the high ground”, in FT Weekend (Big Read section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 7:
"What I had played was chess. Specially, I knocked out some 2,000 games of speed (or "blitz") chess in the two months leading up to the tournament. In fact, I played so much that I'm currently in the top half-percent of more than 1.3 million of blitz players at an online chess competition site."
— 2013 June 24, Mark Samuelian, “Speed Chess Changed My Brain”, in The Atlantic:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The defensive ____ confused the quarterback so much that he was sacked three times.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The team launched a ____ to finish the whole project in one week.