kablooey
kablooey Lexical Profile
kablooey Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
North American Broken, ruined, or completely out of order after a sudden failure or collapse (used predicatively, especially with "go").
"Our weekend plans went completely kablooey when the car's transmission failed on the highway."
• adverb
North American Into a state of sudden ruin, explosion, or complete failure.
"The old boiler finally went kablooey in the middle of January."
• interjection
North American Used to imitate the sound of a loud explosion or to express a sudden, dramatic failure or collapse.
"He connected the wrong wires and—kablooey!—the entire circuit board shorted out."
Word Nuance & Usage
When used as an adjective or adverb, "kablooey" functions strictly in predicative positions, almost always following the linking verb "go" (e.g., "went kablooey").
• Rhymes for kablooey
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in early 20th-century American English by combining the expressive prefix "ka-" (or "ker-") with "blooey", an onomatopoeic word imitating the sound of a sudden explosion or collapse.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.