What it means
Love-bombing is showering someone with over-the-top affection, gifts and attention very fast, not out of pure romance but to win control and keep them off balance. It feels dreamy at first and slowly turns into a leash you did not notice being clipped on.
Usage examples
"He sent flowers daily for a week, classic love-bombing before it all turned cold."
"Watch out for the love-bombing, the grand gestures often hide a need for control."
"She thought it was a fairytale till the love-bombing wore off and every text turned into a guilt trip."
"Mate was calling her his soulmate by day three, that's not romance, that's love-bombing with glitter on it."
Where it comes from
It combines love with bombing, borrowing the image of a sudden emotional blitz that hits all at once. The phrase showed up in the 1970s around accounts of cult recruitment, then moved into psychology and relationship talk, where it stuck as the name for intense affection used to hook, overwhelm, or control someone.
