detonation
Americannoun
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the act of detonating.
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an explosion.
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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.
Other Word Forms
- detonative adjective
Etymology
Origin of detonation
1670–80; < Medieval Latin dētonātiōn- (stem of dētonātiō ), equivalent to Latin dētonāt ( us ) ( detonate ) + -iōn- -ion
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.
Under Finland's 1987 Nuclear Energy Act, the import, manufacture, possession and detonation of nuclear explosives is prohibited on Finnish soil - even during wartime.
From BBC • Mar. 5, 2026
ICF allows scientists to replicate and study the effects of nuclear weapons, including how materials behave under the same extreme temperatures and pressures found inside a nuclear detonation, without an actual nuclear test.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 23, 2026
Police said in a statement that it was an accidental detonation, not a terrorist attack.
From BBC • Nov. 15, 2025
No country other than North Korea is known to have conducted a nuclear detonation for decades.
From Barron's • Nov. 3, 2025
Trinity fireball at 25 thousandths of a second after detonation, witnessed by Lawrence and others from a watching post twenty miles from the test site.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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.
