explosion

noun

ex·​plo·​sion ik-ˈsplō-zhən 

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

Synonyms of explosion

• eruption
• detonation

Examples of explosion in a Sentence

The filmmakers staged the car's explosion.

The island was rocked by a series of volcanic explosions.

The region has experienced a population explosion.

His comments prompted an explosion of laughter from the crowd.

Recent Examples on the Web

Over the following decades, state and federal investigators linked the pipe to multiple explosions, including a fatal blast in Lake Dallas in 1997 and a deadly explosion in Garland in 2000 that killed three people. —Brian New, CBS News, 20 Apr. 2026

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for an explosion that killed at least one Israeli soldier over the weekend and said the explosive device was planted before the ceasefire. —Npr Staff, NPR, 20 Apr. 2026

There’s been an explosion at the mine in Ceylon, and 200 people are dead. —Alice Burton, Vulture, 20 Apr. 2026

But with the explosion of Agentic, the company thinks data centers will need four times the amount of CPU cores for the same GW. —Jeff Marks, CNBC, 20 Apr. 2026

Word History

Etymology

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

First Known Use

1681, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing explosion

• population explosion

Rhymes for explosion

• corrosion
• erosion
• implosion

Kids Definition

explosion

noun

ex·​plo·​sion ik-ˈsplō-zhən 

1

: the act or an instance of exploding

2

: a violent outburst of feeling

Medical Definition

explosion

noun

ex·​plo·​sion ik-ˈsplō-zhən 

: the act or an instance of exploding