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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.

See Examples For:

It shows the walls and ground covered by small tightly-packed impact marks which match the spread of fragments from an airburst warhead like a PrSM, according to expert analysis.

From BBC Apr. 3, 2026

"For the first time, we propose that shock metamorphism in quartz grains exposed to an atomic detonation is essentially the same as during a low-altitude, lower-pressure cosmic airburst," Kennett said.

From Science Daily Oct. 3, 2023

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

This airburst event, the first of its kind in the social media age, caused jaws to drop across the world.

From Scientific American Nov. 18, 2021

A Chelyabinsk-like airburst occurs somewhere on Earth on average every 50 years, usually over the oceans.

From Nature

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