Slang dictionary
love bombing
[ luhv bom-ing ]
What is love bombing?
Love bombing is the practice of showing a person excessive affection and attention as a way of manipulating them in a relationship.
The term is most commonly used in a negative way in the context of individuals who use it on romantic partners (or desired romantic partners) or cult members who use it as a recruitment technique.
Love bombing typically takes the form of showering a person with a combination of seemingly genuine expressions of love or attention, such as excessive praise, gifts, and grand gestures. In love bombing, this behavior goes beyond the heightened level of attention that can be common at the beginning of relationships.
It is thought to be part of a pattern of emotionally abusive behavior in which it is done to socially isolate and control a person by making them emotionally and socially dependent on the manipulator. After the manipulator gains a level of control, they often become distant and begin to engage in other forms of emotional abuse, such as gaslighting.
Love bombing is sometimes hyphenated (as love-bombing). It’s sometimes used in the verb form love bomb, as in Be wary of anyone who tries to love bomb you on the first date. A person who engages in love bombing can be called a love bomber.
Example: People who have been targeted with love bombing will tell you that it preyed on their low self esteem and made them feel special.
Less commonly, the term love bombing is sometimes used in a positive way as the name of a technique used by parents to bond with their children by focusing on positive attention and affection.
Where does love bombing come from?
The term love bombing is used because it involves metaphorically “bombing” (bombarding) a person with seemingly sincere displays of love, affection, and attention.
The term love bombing has been used since at least the 1970s. The term and the manipulative strategy it refers to are often traced back to members of the Unification Church, a controversial religious sect commonly regarded as a cult. Its members (often negatively referred to as Moonies after founder Sun Myung Moon) are known to have used excessive flattery, admiration, and friendly conversation to attempt to recruit new members. Former members have referred to this strategy as love bombing.
Since the 1970s, the term love bombing has been extended to be used in the context of other kinds of relationships, particularly romantic ones.
Examples of love bombing
Who uses love bombing?
Love bombing is commonly used by therapists, relationship coaches, and people in online communities to describe manipulative behavior in romantic relationships. It often appears in discussions about toxic dynamics, where one partner overwhelms the other with excessive affection, gifts, or attention early on to create dependency. The term is popular in social media discussions, especially among those sharing stories of emotional manipulation or narcissistic relationships. It’s also used by individuals who have experienced sudden, intense romantic gestures that later reveal controlling or deceitful intentions.
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of love bombing like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of love bombing that will help our users expand their word mastery.