Main Entry: ex·plo·sion

Pronunciation: \ik-ˈsplō-zhən\

Function: noun

Etymology: Latin explosion-, explosio act of driving off by clapping, from explodere

Date: 1667

1 : the act or an instance of exploding <injured in a laboratory explosion>
2 : a large-scale, rapid, or spectacular expansion or bursting out or forth <the explosion of suburbia> <an explosion of red hair>
3 : the release of occluded breath that occurs in one kind of articulation of stop consonants