Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
After heavy rain, swollen streams can burst their banks, carrying mud and boulders down the mountainsides.—NPR, 4 Apr. 2026 Violent, volcanic explosions some 30 million years ago (after dinosaurs went extinct) created the sheer rock faces and fields of boulders that make the region's geography so unique.—Lauren Villagran, USA Today, 1 Apr. 2026 The fatal fall happened just one day after two people were injured in the park when boulders crashed onto their car on Little River Road, park officials said.—Mark Price, Charlotte Observer, 31 Mar. 2026 Over the course of six inconceivably traumatic days, Caldwell and three friends were forcibly marched and starved, shoved under boulders to evade detection, and made to watch their kidnappers execute members of the rival Kyrgyz Army at point-blank range.—Namir Khaliq, Big Think, 31 Mar. 2026 See All Example Sentences for boulder
Word History
Etymology
short for boulder stone, from Middle English bulder ston, partial translation of a word of Scandinavian origin; akin to Swedish dialect bullersten large stone in a stream, from buller noise + sten stone