explosion

From French explosion, from Latin explōsiōnis, genitive form of explōsio, from explōdo (“I drive out by clapping”), from ex- and plōdo (“I clap or strike”). For more information see explode#Etymology.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪkˈspləʊ.ʒən/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɛkˈsploʊ.ʒən/, /ɪkˈsploʊ.ʒən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

explosion (countable and uncountable, plural explosions)

1. A violent release of energy (sometimes mechanical, nuclear, or chemical); an act or instance of exploding.
   • 1913, Mining and Engineering World, page 171:

     A man was injured by an explosion caused by drilling into a missed shot at the Mendota mine above Silver Plume, Colo.

2. The sound of an explosion.
3. A sudden, uncontrolled or rapid increase, expansion, or bursting out.
   • 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, pages 3-4:

     As with the Lejeuneaceae, this pattern of massive speciation appears to be correlated with the Cretaceous explosion of the angiosperms and the simultaneous creation of a host of new microenvironments, differing in humidity, light intensity, texture, etc.

   • 2005 June 3, Mark Tungate, Media Monoliths: How Great Media Brands Thrive and Survive, Kogan Page Publishers, →ISBN, page 38:

     Her image is supposedly rebellious, but she looks scrubbed and healthy, with an explosion of blonde hair and generous curves shoved into too-tight clothing.

   • 2013 August 10, “Can China clean up fast enough?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:

     All this has led to an explosion of protest across China, including among a middle class that has discovered nimbyism. That worries the government, which fears that environmental activism could become the foundation for more general political opposition. It is therefore dealing with pollution in two ways—suppression and mitigation.

• implosion

• explode
• explosive
• principle of explosion

• explosion on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “explosion”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

From Latin explosiōnem.

• IPA^(key): /ɛk.splo.zjɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

explosion f (plural explosions)

1. explosion

• explosion cambrienne
• moteur à explosion

• exploser

• “explosion”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• Audio:

  (file)

explosion f (plural explosions)

1. explosion

• explosar
• explosiu

• Diccionari General de la Lenga Occitana, L’Academia occitana – Consistòri del Gai Saber, 2008-2024, page 310.

From Latin explosiō, attested from 1770.^[1]

explosion c

1. explosion

   Synonym: sprängning

   Antonym: implosion

• explosionsartad
• explosionsmotor
• granatexplosion

• explodera
• explosiv