suicide bomber
n. A person who deliberately kills himself or herself while detonating a bomb.
Other Forms
Examples
2001
In early August, 15 were killed when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive in a Jerusalem pizzeria. On June 1, 22 were killed, many young people, when another suicide bomber exploded a device outside a Tel Aviv disco.
—Robert Nolin, “On a mission to learn,” Sun-Sentinel, September 08, 2001
1981 (earliest)
A thunderous explosion destroyed the five-story Iraqi Embassy today, and as many as 20 people were reported killed. … A Lebanese police spokesman first reported that a suicide bomber drove an explosives-filled car into the embassy compound past guards' machine-gun fire and detonated it near the building.
—Tom Baldwin, “International News,” The Associated Press, December 15, 1981
Notes
This phrase appeared on most of our language radars in 1983 after a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden pickup truck into a building housing U.S. Marines at a Beirut, Lebanon airport. Interestingly, the earliest citation is from another Beirut-based explosion.