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airburst

American  
[air-burst] / ˈɛərˌbɜrst /

noun

  1. the explosion of a bomb or shell in midair.

airburst British  
/ ˈɛəˌbɜːst /

noun

  1. the explosion of a bomb, shell, etc, in the air

"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

Etymology

Origin of airburst

First recorded in 1915–20; air 1 + burst

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

The team also strengthened the case for an airburst over Tall el-Hammam during the Middle Bronze Age.

From Science Daily • Dec. 19, 2025

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 airburst explosion of the meteor packed an energy equivalent to 500 kilotons of TNT, they calculated.

From Scientific American • Nov. 6, 2013

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.