Explode

/ɪkˈspləʊd/ · verb

Meaning

(intransitive) To fly apart with sudden violent force; to blow up, to burst, to detonate, to go off..

Definitions by Sense

1. (intransitive) To fly apart with sudden violent force; to blow up, to burst, to detonate, to go off.
2. (transitive) To destroy with an explosion.
3. (intransitive, figuratively) To make a violent or emotional outburst; to suddenly give expression to powerful and often negative or unpleasant emotion, especially anger.
4. (intransitive, figuratively) To increase suddenly.
5. (mathematics) To increase arbitrarily or boundlessly.
6. (transitive) To destroy violently or abruptly.
7. (transitive) To create an exploded view of.
8. (transitive, archaic) To disprove or debunk.

Example Sentences

The bomb explodes.

But signalman Bridges was never to answer driver Gimbert's desperate question. A deafening, massive blast blew the wagon to shreds, the 44 high-explosive bombs exploding like simultaneous hits from the aircraft they should have been dropped from. The station was instantly reduced to bits of debris, and the line to a huge crater.

The assassin exploded the car by means of a car bomb.

She exploded when I criticised her hat.

“Nonsense!” Jack exploded at me. “Why Miss Bertram here knocked that theory into a cocked hat coming over on the train.”

Dobbin […] fell back in the crowd, crowing and sputtering until he reached a safe distance, when he exploded amongst the astonished market-people with shrieks of yelling laughter.

When pigeons can come to a spot day in and day out for a guaranteed meal, their populations explode.

Despite these products typically costing more, the market for organic food has exploded over the last couple of decades.

Synonyms for explode

Antonyms for explode

Related Words

Word Forms

• explodes
• exploding
• exploded
• no-table-tags
• glossary
• explode
• explodest
• explodedst
• explodeth
• -
• asplode
• esplode

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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