detonate
Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
- detonability noun
- detonable adjective
- detonatability noun
- detonatable adjective
- nondetonating adjective
- undetonated adjective
Etymology
Origin of detonate
1720–30; < Latin dētonātus thundered forth (past participle of dētonāre ), equivalent to dē- de- + ton ( āre ) to thunder + -ātus -ate 1
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.
Alternatively, specialized ships or aircraft mimic the magnetic fields, pressure or noise created by a passing ship to detonate the mines before they can do any harm.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 17, 2026
If “One of Us” is an entertaining family saga of privilege and comeuppance, it is also a consummate novel of suspense in which revelations detonate with lethal accuracy.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 13, 2026
Commander Fox explains that mines generally fall into two categories: contact mines, which detonate when struck, and influence mines, which explode when sensors detect changes in sound, pressure or magnetism.
From BBC • Jan. 30, 2026
Proximity fuses are designed to detonate in the air when they are a certain distance from a target, experts say.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 21, 2025
After lowering a torpedo filled with nitroglycerin into the belly of the earth, the muddied workers would detonate it, occasionally turning up a fragment of an ancient American Indian spear or an arrowhead.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
![]()
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.