explosion Hear it!

explosion Definition

ex·plo·sion (ek splō′z̸hən, ik-)

noun

  1. an exploding; esp., a blowing up, or bursting with a loud noise; detonation
  2. the noise made by exploding
  3. a noisy outburst; loud breaking forth an explosion of wrath
  4. a sudden, rapid, and widespread increase a population explosion
  5. Phonet. plosion

Etymology: L explosio < pp. of explodere: see explode

explosion Synonyms

explosion

n.

  1. The act of blowing up

    detonation, blast, burst, discharge, blowout, blowup, concussion, eruption, percussion, combustion, outburst, firing, ignition, backfire, fulmination, pop.

  2. A loud noise

    report, blast, crack, bang; see noise 1.

explosion Usage Examples

Converse of subject

  • injure: Over a hundred people were killed and many injured by the explosion.

Converse of object

  • rip: In April 1986, an explosion ripped through reactor 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine.
  • muffle: There had been a ' muffled explosion ' in one of the nearby Underground tunnels, and they were evacuating.
  • trigger: Even a radio is capable of triggering an explosion in hazardous conditions.
  • ensue: The ensuing explosion then caused fires to start in two nearby tanks, with a combined capacity of around 700,000 liters.
  • deafen: Suddenly, just in front of me, the air was split by two deafening explosions in rapid succession.

Adjective modifier

  • Cambrian: About 540 million years ago the so-called Cambrian explosion took place.
  • nuclear: This was a clear call for the two South Asian nations not to conduct any more nuclear explosions.
  • combinatorial: He described problems with workflows and ontologies and the " Combinatorial Explosion " .
  • loud: There was a loud bright explosion inside the Lincoln.
  • volcanic: They are passed off as fable or reduced to the status of mistaken accounts of volcanic explosions in the Aegean.
  • thermonuclear: In fact they result from a thermonuclear explosion on the surface of a white dwarf star in a close binary system.

Modifies a noun

  • suppression: This includes barriers for intrinsically safe circuits, control systems of explosion suppression, inerting and decoupling systems.
  • hazard: Also, the fuel source should be kept downwind of the aircraft's exhaust to reduce the explosion hazard.

Noun used with modifier

  • supernova: Pulsars are neutron stars formed in the collapse of massive stars in supernova explosions.
  • bomb: The incident is linked to the nail bomb explosion in Brixton a week earlier.
  • mid-air: An investigation Commission was set up in Barbados to determine, among other things, what caused the mid-air explosion of that plane.
  • landmine: The landmine explosion was the worst single blow to the Regiment since its formation in 1970.
  • punk: Wire were always meant to be the intellectual end of the punk explosion.
  • methane: Last July, more than 30 were killed in a methane explosion in Donetsk region, the heart of Ukraine's coal-producing area.
explosion Quotes

Roughly speaking it was the sensation of being at the centre of an explosion† I fancy you would feel much the same if you were struck by lightning. I knew immediately that I was hit, but because of that seeming bang and flash, I thought it was a rifle nearby that had gone off accidentallyand shot me.

—Orwell, George pseudonym of  Eric Arthur Blair

Can a society in which thought and technique are scientific persist for a long period, as, for example, ancient Egypt persisted, or does it necessarily contain within itself forces which must bring either decay or explosion?

—Russell, Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl

   Like being the captain of a mine-sweeper, if you do your job well, nobody notices.If you don't, there's a hell of an explosion.

—Catto, Henry E(dward)