detonation
the act of detonating.
an explosion.
Machinery. the premature spontaneous burning of a fuel–air mixture in an internal-combustion engine due to the high temperature of air compressed in a cylinder.
Origin of detonation
1Other words from detonation
- det·o·na·tive, adjective
Words Nearby detonation
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use detonation in a sentence
We hear more of Joan than Peter, and Dowd animates the text with unpredictable detonations.
Ann Dowd Goes From ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ Villain Aunt Lydia to ‘Enemy of the People’ | Tim Teeman | July 2, 2021 | The Daily BeastThat would be unfortunate for his city, but not as unfortunate as the detonation of dozens of tons of volatile hydrocarbons.
Engineers raise alarms over the risk of major explosions at LNG plants | Will Englund | June 3, 2021 | Washington PostThey said they hope whoever is responsible for the detonation pays for the costs of its aftermath.
A huge explosion cracked house foundations in New Hampshire. An ‘extreme’ gender-reveal party was to blame. | Andrea Salcedo | April 23, 2021 | Washington PostThe scenario is still hypothetical, Caplan admits — more research is needed to determine if uranium snowflakes could really spur a stellar detonation.
Uranium ‘snowflakes’ could set off thermonuclear explosions of dead stars | Emily Conover | March 30, 2021 | Science NewsThese include asteroid and comet impacts, the detonation of nearby supernovae, and dangerous stellar radiation from their host stars.
Extraterrestrial Life Could Be Hiding in Our Galaxy’s Interior Ocean Worlds | Jason Dorrier | March 21, 2021 | Singularity Hub
In midafternoon we actually felt the detonation of two bombs a couple of miles away.
U.S. Planes are Blowing the Hell out of ISIS at Kobani, But … | Jamie Dettmer | October 9, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTOne official surveying the destruction likened it to a nuclear detonation.
How Bin Laden Escaped in 2001—The lessons of Tora Bora | Yaniv Barzilai | December 15, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTI pretty much thought I was going to die in a nuclear detonation before I was 15.
Krytrons are sophisticated triggers for the detonation of nuclear bombs.
At that, there was what could only be described as a diva detonation.
At the same instant a detonation was heard, and a bullet cut away a branch just over the Chiefs head.
The Border Rifles | Gustave AimardTwo minutes afterwards the ship blew up with a glorious detonation.
The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Volume XXI | Robert Louis StevensonThe word explosion is always used concretely (an explosion, or a detonation as chemists commonly call it).
Conversations on Chemistry, V. 1-2 | Jane MarcetFor a long time the detonation of the artillery and the rattle of musketry continued unabated.
The Sword of Honor, volumes 1 & 2 | Eugne SueThere was a flare of colored lights, a deafening detonation—and he felt himself knocked breathless against a wall.
The 4-D Doodler | Graph Waldeyer
British Dictionary definitions for detonation
/ (ˌdɛtəˈneɪʃən) /
an explosion or the act of exploding
the spontaneous combustion in an internal-combustion engine of part of the mixture before it has been reached by the flame front, causing the engine to knock
physics rapid combustion, esp that occurring within a shock wave
Derived forms of detonation
- detonative, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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