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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Explosion \Ex*plo"sion\, noun [L. explosio a driving off by clapping: cf. F. explosion explosion. See {Explode}.]
1. The act of exploding; detonation; a chemical action which causes the sudden formation of a great volume of expanded gas; as, the explosion of gunpowder, of fire damp, etc.
2. A bursting with violence and loud noise, because of internal pressure; as, the explosion of a gun, a bomb, a steam boiler, etc.
3. A violent outburst of feeling, manifested by excited language, action, etc.; as, an explosion of wrath.
A formidable explosion of high-church fanaticism. --Macaulay.
4. a sudden and substantial increase; a rapid acceleration; as, the population explosion. [PJC]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
explosion
noun
1: a violent release of energy caused by a chemical or nuclear reaction [syn: {detonation}, {blowup}]
2: the act of exploding or bursting something; "the explosion of the firecrackers awoke the children"; "the burst of an atom bomb creates enormous radiation aloft" [syn: {burst}]
3: a sudden great increase; "the population explosion"; "the information explosion"
4: the noise caused by an explosion; "the explosion was heard a mile away"
5: the terminal forced release of pressure built up during the occlusive phase of a stop consonant [syn: {plosion}]
6: a sudden outburst; "an explosion of laughter"; "an explosion of rage"
7: a golf shot from a bunker that typically moves sand as well as the golf ball
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
91 Moby Thesaurus words for "explosion": accelerando, acceleration, access, aggravation, backfire, bang, bark, beefing-up, blast, blaze, blaze of temper, blowing up, blowout, blowup, boom, burgeoning, burst, clap, concentration, condensation, consolidation, convulsion, crack, crash, cyclone, deepening, detonation, discharge, disconfirmation, disproof, disproval, disproving, enhancement, eruption, exacerbation, exaggeration, expansion, expose, exposure, fit, flare, flare-up, flash, fulguration, fulmination, fusillade, gale, gunshot, gust, heating-up, heightening, high words, hurricane, increase, information explosion, intensification, invalidation, irruption, magnification, mushrooming, negation, outbreak, outburst, paddy, paroxysm, pickup, pop, population explosion, redargution, redoubling, reductio ad absurdum, reinforcement, report, sally, salvo, scene, seizure, shot, spasm, speedup, step-up, storm, strengthening, tantrum, tempest, tightening, tornado, upheaval, volley, wax, whirlwind
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |