airburst
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of airburst
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Images taken after the strike further support the assessment that an airburst munition was used.
From BBC ● Apr. 3, 2026
"For the first time, we propose that shock metamorphism in quartz grains exposed to an atomic detonation is essentially the same as during a low-altitude, lower-pressure cosmic airburst," Kennett said.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 3, 2023
That leaves his group where it was before the discovery of Hiawatha: arguing the Younger Dryas trigger was an airburst rather than a body slamming into the ground.
From Science Magazine ● Mar. 8, 2022
The blast occurred roughly 16 miles above the ocean, creating a high-altitude airburst with perhaps 40 percent of the energy released by the destructive February 2013 meteor over Chelyabinsk, Russia.
From Scientific American ● Mar. 21, 2019
A Chelyabinsk-like airburst occurs somewhere on Earth on average every 50 years, usually over the oceans.
From Nature
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
