explosion
noun
ex·plo·sion
ik-ˈsplō-zhən 
1
: the act or an instance of exploding
injured in a laboratory explosion
2
: a large-scale, rapid, or spectacular expansion or bursting out or forth
the explosion of suburbia
an explosion of red hair
3
: the release of occluded breath that occurs in one kind of articulation of stop consonants
Synonyms
Examples of explosion in a Sentence
The filmmakers staged the car's explosion.
The island was rocked by a series of volcanic explosions.
The region has experienced a population explosion.
His comments prompted an explosion of laughter from the crowd.
Recent Examples on the Web
In a 17th-century explosion, Etna buried the town of Nicolosi, destroyed much of the city of Catania and fired molten rock into the sea 18 miles away.
—
Leo Sands, Washington Post, 8 Apr. 2024
Watching and hearing the regular explosions in the distance was surreal and disturbing.
—Tom Soufi Burridge, ABC News, 7 Apr. 2024
And two disasters — the Challenger explosion in 1986 and the loss of Columbia in 2003 — cost the lives of 14 astronauts.
—Jackie Wattles, CNN, 5 Apr. 2024
An explosion killed 11 people and released 210 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
—Minnah Arshad, USA TODAY, 4 Apr. 2024
Video caught the moment when a plane-like UAV nosedived into a plant near Yelabuga in the Tatarstan region around 600 miles from Ukraine’s borders in Russia, causing a massive explosion.
—Peter Aitken, Fox News, 2 Apr. 2024
Hassabis has been in the AI field for more than 15 years and had a front-row seat for the explosion in popular interest sparked by the public release of ChatGPT in November 2022.
—Dylan Sloan, Fortune, 1 Apr. 2024
To be eligible, businesses are required to have been in their brick and mortar locations at least six months before the explosion, and they must be registered with the Texas Comptroller’s Office as taxpaying entities to the city of Fort Worth.
—Cody Copeland, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 26 Mar. 2024
Private Tretiak, with shrapnel wounds in both legs from grenade explosions and his right hand ripped apart by a bullet, reloaded magazines for his comrade.
—Marc Santora, New York Times, 24 Mar. 2024
Leo Sands, Washington Post, 8 Apr. 2024
Watching and hearing the regular explosions in the distance was surreal and disturbing.
—Tom Soufi Burridge, ABC News, 7 Apr. 2024
And two disasters — the Challenger explosion in 1986 and the loss of Columbia in 2003 — cost the lives of 14 astronauts.
—Jackie Wattles, CNN, 5 Apr. 2024
An explosion killed 11 people and released 210 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
—Minnah Arshad, USA TODAY, 4 Apr. 2024
Video caught the moment when a plane-like UAV nosedived into a plant near Yelabuga in the Tatarstan region around 600 miles from Ukraine’s borders in Russia, causing a massive explosion.
—Peter Aitken, Fox News, 2 Apr. 2024
Hassabis has been in the AI field for more than 15 years and had a front-row seat for the explosion in popular interest sparked by the public release of ChatGPT in November 2022.
—Dylan Sloan, Fortune, 1 Apr. 2024
To be eligible, businesses are required to have been in their brick and mortar locations at least six months before the explosion, and they must be registered with the Texas Comptroller’s Office as taxpaying entities to the city of Fort Worth.
—Cody Copeland, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 26 Mar. 2024
Private Tretiak, with shrapnel wounds in both legs from grenade explosions and his right hand ripped apart by a bullet, reloaded magazines for his comrade.
—Marc Santora, New York Times, 24 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'explosion.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near explosion
Cite this Entry
“Explosion.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/explosion. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
explosion
noun
ex·plo·sion
ik-ˈsplō-zhən
1
: the act or an instance of exploding
2
: a violent outburst of feeling
Medical Definition
explosion
noun
ex·plo·sion
ik-ˈsplō-zhən
: the act or an instance of exploding
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