blowup
Americannoun
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an explosion.
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a violent argument, outburst of temper, or the like, especially one resulting in estrangement.
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Also blow-up an enlargement of a photograph.
Etymology
Origin of blowup
First recorded in 1800–10; noun use of verb phrase blow up
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.
One lending blowup is showing how America’s banks helped fuel the private-credit boom, and what could happen in its unraveling.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 17, 2026
Market Financial Solutions is the latest worrying blowup.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 6, 2026
That should have a negative impact on the market—and that assumes no blowup in the bond market or anything like that.
From Barron's • Jan. 9, 2026
Ahead of the August 2024 blowup, speculators were extremely short on the yen.
From MarketWatch • Dec. 5, 2025
A blowup of the film found inside the coin arrived at the desk of Robert Lamphere, an FBI counterintelligence agent in Washington, D.C.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
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.
