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Showing results for shock absorber. Search instead for shock-absorbent.
Synonyms

shock absorber

American  

noun

Machinery.

  1. a device for damping sudden and rapid motion, as the recoil of a spring-mounted object from shock.

shock absorber British  

noun

  1. any device designed to absorb mechanical shock, esp one fitted to a motor vehicle to damp the recoil of the suspension springs

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of shock absorber

First recorded in 1905–10

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Every investor alive has been trained by four decades of falling rates to believe recession means rate cuts, which means that bonds rally, which means a typical 60/40 stock-bond portfolio has a shock absorber.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 9, 2026

Savers accept lower returns to own risk-free Treasury debt because it usually acts as a shock absorber.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 4, 2026

“We don’t have quite the shock absorber that we used to have,” Croft said in an interview.

From Barron's • Jan. 14, 2026

The oligoethylene glycol units act as a type of shock absorber that adjusts to the appropriate length to make certain the shapes can fit together in a near-perfect manner.

From Science Daily • Jan. 18, 2024

Hermes was now pulling Beck and Watney along, with Vogel's use of the tether acting as a shock absorber.

From "The Martian" by Andy Weir

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.