explosion
//ɪkˈspləʊ.ʒən//
Forms
- Plural
- explosions
Definitions
1.A violent release of energy (sometimes mechanical, nuclear, or chemical); an act or instance of exploding.
- A man was injured by an explosion caused by drilling into a missed shot at the Mendota mine above Silver Plume, Colo.
2.A sudden, uncontrolled or rapid increase, expansion, or bursting out.
- 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.
- Meteorologists describe this medieval warm epoch as the ‘Little Optimum’, and they cite it as the explanation of such phenomena as the Viking explosion into Russia, France, Iceland, and the northwestern Atlantic.
3.The sound of an explosion.
Frequency
Overall
Uncommon· #3375
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Etymology
From French explosion, from Latin explōsiōnis, genitive form of explōsio, from explōdo (“to drive out by clapping”), from ex- and plōdo (“to clap or strike”).
For more information see explode.