Barrage in a Sentence: Meaning, Examples & Usage

Barrage means a heavy, continuous flow of something, whether artillery shells or a flood of questions. To use barrage in a sentence, treat it as a countable noun and name what arrives: “Reporters fired a barrage of questions at the minister.” The word covers military fire, figurative floods and the river barrier that shares its spelling.

Barrage at a glance

• Barrage is a countable noun; its plural is barrages, and it also works as a verb.
• Its three senses are artillery fire, a figurative flood of words or things, and a river barrier.
• The dominant pattern is a barrage of plus what arrives, such as a barrage of questions.
• It appears most in news reporting, where it covers both shelling and public criticism.
• The word stresses a heavy and continuous flow, not a single event.
• The commonest error is using it for one item or for a slow trickle.

What does barrage mean?

Barrage is a noun meaning a heavy and continuous flow of fire, words or objects, and separately a barrier built across a river. The Cambridge entry for barrage keeps the military sense and the figurative sense together, because the second grew directly from the first. In its earliest use a bombardment pounded a position without pause, and a barrage of questions borrows exactly that unrelenting rhythm.

One limitation belongs here. Barrage is not a word for a single shot, a single question or a slow trickle of complaints; it needs volume and continuity. Nor does it carry the meaning of chaos, which belongs to mayhem or bedlam. When only a few things arrive, a handful or a smattering is the honest phrase.

How do you use barrage in a sentence?

Five patterns cover almost every real sentence, and the first is the one that carries the figurative sense most often. A short, sharp burst is usually a volley, while a long and steady arrival is a torrent.

Barrage in a sentence: examples across contexts

Barrage moves from the battlefield to the inbox without losing its central image of a heavy, steady flow. The examples below keep one foot in that image, the way a deluge or a hail of messages still suggests weather.

Only the conversational example uses the verb get, which shows how far the word has travelled from its military origin. Where the arrival is sudden and overwhelming rather than steady, the nearer noun is deluge.

Barrage vs onslaught

Barrage and onslaught both describe a powerful attack, but they picture different shapes of pressure.

Verdict: choose barrage when the pressure is a steady stream that keeps coming, and a shower or an onslaught only when the arrival is sudden and intense rather than prolonged.

What is a river barrage?

A river barrage is a structure built across a waterway to control its flow, hold back the tide or keep a channel deep enough for boats. Unlike a dam, it usually lets water pass through gates or locks, so the river keeps moving while the level stays under control. The word is the same as the military noun because both describe something that holds or directs a powerful force.

Engineering prose uses the countable noun in the ordinary way: the barrage, the new barrage, the barrage at the estuary. The commonest pattern keeps a verb of building, opening or crossing in front of it.

Word forms and grammar of barrage

Barrage works as both a noun and a verb, and its endings are entirely regular despite the French-looking final e.

Common mistakes with barrage

• Incorrect: He asked a barrage. Correct: He asked a barrage of questions. Rule: In the figurative sense the noun needs of plus what arrives.
• Incorrect: A slow barrage of one complaint reached the office. Correct: A single complaint reached the office. Rule: Barrage requires volume and continuity, so one item cannot form one.
• Incorrect: The team won under a barrage of luck. Correct: The team won in a shower of luck. Rule: The noun names something that arrives in quantity and presses on a target.
• Incorrect: She was barraging about the weather. Correct: She was barraged with questions about the weather. Rule: The verb takes a person as object and with before the thing arriving.
• Incorrect: The barrage of the river was made of concrete questions. Correct: The river barrage was made of concrete. Rule: Keep the military, figurative and engineering senses in separate sentences to avoid nonsense.
• Incorrect: There were many barrages of a single shot. Correct: There was a single shot. Rule: A barrage is never singular in quantity or instantaneous in time.

Practice using barrage

Work through the seven items, then check the reasoning rather than only the answer.

1. Fill the gap: After the announcement, the office received a ______ of angry calls.
2. Choose the better word: The army crossed the river at the (barrage / onslaught) where the water ran deep.
3. Correct the error: A barrage of one email arrived at noon.
4. Build a sentence: use under a barrage of about a shop accused of raising prices.
5. Spot the register: which belongs in a news bulletin — the minister faced a barrage of criticism, or everyone kept shouting at the minister a lot?
6. Rewrite with the verb: Reporters asked the actor many questions. Use barrage as a verb.
7. Sort the sense: in the sentence the estuary barrage protects the town, is barrage military, figurative or technical?

Answers

1. barrage — many calls arriving at once form the figurative flood.
2. barrage — a structure across a river is the technical noun, not an attack.
3. A slew of emails arrived at noon — one item cannot be a barrage.
4. Model answer: The shop came under a barrage of complaints after it doubled its prices.
5. The minister faced a barrage of criticism — the fixed phrase keeps the report neutral and compact.
6. Reporters barraged the actor with questions — the verb takes the person as object and with before the questions.
7. Technical — the estuary barrage is the river barrier sense, not fire or a flood of words.

The bottom line

Use barrage in a sentence for a heavy and continuous flow, from artillery fire to a flood of questions, emails or criticism, and keep of plus the arriving thing close at hand. The two nuances that decide most sentences are these: the word demands volume over time, and it extends so easily to words that the figurative sense is now the commoner one. For the structure across a river, the same noun works on its own.

Frequently asked questions about barrage

Is barrage a formal word?

Barrage is neutral to formal and appears constantly in news reporting, where it describes both shelling and a flood of words. In casual conversation people are more likely to say a stream of questions or a pile of complaints. The word stays accessible, so it is not too formal for a general audience.

Can barrage describe words instead of weapons?

Yes, and that figurative use is now more common than the military one. A barrage of questions, emails or criticism means a large number arriving fast and at once. The image of heavy, continuous fire carries over perfectly to anything that feels relentless, which is why the extension happened so easily.

What is the plural of barrage?

The plural is barrages, formed with the ordinary s ending. The verb also adds d, so the past tense is barraged, as in reporters barraged the minister with questions. Both forms keep the final e before the ending, which catches some learners out when they spell the word.

How strong is a barrage of criticism?

A barrage of criticism is heavy and sustained rather than a single complaint. It suggests many people or messages arriving together, often over a short period, so the target feels overwhelmed. A lone objection is just a criticism; the barrage is the unrelenting volume that makes it hard to answer.