explode
to expand with force and noise because of rapid chemical change or decomposition, as gunpowder or nitroglycerine (opposed to implode).
to burst, fly into pieces, or break up violently with a loud report, as a boiler from excessive pressure of steam.
to burst forth violently or emotionally, especially with noise, laughter, violent speech, etc.: He exploded with rage when contradicted.
Phonetics. (of plosives) to terminate the occlusive phase with a plosion.: Compare implode (def. 2).
Golf. to play an explosion shot on a golf ball.
to cause (gunpowder, a boiler, etc.) to explode.
to cause to be rejected; destroy the repute of; discredit or disprove: to explode a theory.
Phonetics. to end with plosion.
Golf. to play an explosion shot on (a golf ball).
Obsolete. to drive (a player, play, etc.) from the stage by loud expressions of disapprobation.
Origin of explode
1Other words from explode
- ex·plod·er, noun
- pre·ex·plode, verb, pre·ex·plod·ed, pre·ex·plod·ing.
- un·ex·plod·ed, adjective
Words Nearby explode
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use explode in a sentence
The moment exploded on social media, inspiring jokes, memes and a surprise resurgence of the 2017 single onto Twitter’s trending topics.
Trump contradicts CDC director on vaccine; Biden says Americans shouldn’t trust Trump | Colby Itkowitz, Felicia Sonmez, John Wagner | September 16, 2020 | Washington PostThe hype around cloud database developer Snowflake exploded on Wednesday, as the company’s shares more than doubled in value on their first day of trading after a high-profile initial public offering.
From Santa Cruz to Lake Tahoe, thousands of bolts of electricity exploded down onto withered grasslands and forests, some of them already hollowed out by climate-driven infestations of beetles and kiln-dried by the worst five-year drought on record.
Climate Change Will Force a New American Migration | by Abrahm Lustgarten, photography by Meridith Kohut | September 15, 2020 | ProPublicaWhile the app’s design and ability to foster a creative community caused it to surge onto the social media scene, it’s exploding because of the way it gathers and harnesses data to enhance the user experience.
Unpacking the TikTok algorithm: Three reasons why it’s the most addictive social network | Brian Freeman | September 11, 2020 | Search Engine WatchWarren said the exploding number of cases at Metropolitan has felt inevitable to defense attorneys since the pandemic started.
Federal Jail Downtown Now Has One of the Country’s Worst COVID Outbreaks | Maya Srikrishnan | September 10, 2020 | Voice of San Diego
Angry Birds at its simplest was the same way, though you wanted to watch things collapse and explode.
Lost For Thousands of Strokes: 'Desert Golfing' Is 'Angry Birds' as Modern Art | Alec Kubas-Meyer | January 2, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTIn a dramatic twist on mistletoe reproduction, their seeds explode, literally.
It failed to explode, but U.S. officials knew they were lucky.
Pakistani School Killers Want to Strike the U.S. | Sami Yousafzai, Christopher Dickey | December 17, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTMarkov tells The Daily Beast he expects the situation in eastern Ukraine to explode in the coming two days.
Add in fiery preaching by anti-gay zealots, often funded by American organizations, and you have a volatile brew ready to explode.
And now the time had come at which the hoarded illhumour of six months was at liberty to explode.
The History of England from the Accession of James II. | Thomas Babington MacaulayHe had made and set adrift those powder kegs, fixing them so that they would explode on touching anything.
Stories of Our Naval Heroes | VariousHe feared to fill the balloon to its capacity lest the expansion of the gas due to the hot sun should explode it.
In Africa | John T. McCutcheonThe gentleman who had named himself Dismuke puffed out his cheeks and looked as if he were about to explode.
The Wreckers | Francis LyndeHe was fixing his eye on a spot in the floor as though he expected it to explode and blow them to fragments.
Villa Rubein and Other Stories | John Galsworthy
British Dictionary definitions for explode
/ (ɪkˈspləʊd) /
to burst or cause to burst with great violence as a result of internal pressure, esp through the detonation of an explosive; blow up
to destroy or be destroyed in this manner: to explode a bridge
(of a gas) to undergo or cause (a gas) to undergo a sudden violent expansion, accompanied by heat, light, a shock wave, and a loud noise, as a result of a fast uncontrolled exothermic chemical or nuclear reaction
(intr) to react suddenly or violently with emotion, etc: to explode with anger
(intr) (esp of a population) to increase rapidly
(tr) to show (a theory, etc) to be baseless; refute and make obsolete
(tr) phonetics to pronounce (a stop) with audible plosion
Origin of explode
1- Compare implode
Derived forms of explode
- exploder, noun
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
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