da bomb

“Da bomb” means the best, the coolest, totally great. If something is da bomb, nothing tops it. It’s peak 1990s slang, and these days people mostly say it with a grin.

What da bomb means

Calling something da bomb (or the bomb) is high praise: “This pizza is da bomb.” It works for food, music, clothes, people and parties. The “da” spelling copies how “the” sounds in fast, casual speech.

Watch the grammar, because it flips the meaning. Something that is “the bomb” is great. Something that “bombed” failed. Same word, opposite results.

Examples

• “Your mom’s lasagna is da bomb.”
• “That new album? Da bomb.”
• “I thought my outfit was da bomb in 1998. The photos disagree.”

Where it came from

It was one of the signature compliments of the 1990s, alongside phat and off the hook. Wiktionary defines it simply as the best, “the ultimate cool thing,” and Steven Pinker slipped it into his 2021 book Rationality in a list of slang praise words with dope, phat, chill, fly and sick.

British slang has an older cousin: something “going like a bomb” is a big success.

Related terms

• Phat: excellent, 90s style.
• All that: impressive, or so they think.
• Off the hook: amazing, wild.
• Fire: today’s way to say really good.

More throwback words are in our 90s slang guide.