as in explosion
the act or an instance of exploding
there was a series of detonations around the base of the condemned building, causing it to come crashing down in a matter of minutes
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Recent Examples of detonation
Survivors and their families gathered Saturday in rainy weather at Peace Park and nearby Hypocenter Park, located below the bomb’s exact detonation spot, hours before the official ceremony.
—
Mari Yamaguchi, Chicago Tribune, 9 Aug. 2025
Little Boy’s detonation mechanism was simple.
—David Perlmutt, Charlotte Observer, 6 Aug. 2025
Some thought experiments, if truly wrestled with, can act like inner detonations.
—Shai Tubali, Big Think, 5 Aug. 2025
In the Tianjin port, an initial explosion of nitrocellulose led to a much bigger detonation of eight hundred pounds of ammonium nitrate.
—Hazlitt, 23 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for detonation
Mari Yamaguchi, Chicago Tribune, 9 Aug. 2025
Little Boy’s detonation mechanism was simple.
—David Perlmutt, Charlotte Observer, 6 Aug. 2025
Some thought experiments, if truly wrestled with, can act like inner detonations.
—Shai Tubali, Big Think, 5 Aug. 2025
In the Tianjin port, an initial explosion of nitrocellulose led to a much bigger detonation of eight hundred pounds of ammonium nitrate.
—Hazlitt, 23 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for detonation
Recent Examples of Synonyms for detonation
Noun
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Sure, other fates are possible, like direct collapse to a black hole or explosions through the pair-instability mechanism, but a core-collapse supernova (also known as a type II supernova) represents the fate of the majority of the most massive stars ever to be born.—
Ethan Siegel,
Big Think,
12 Sep. 2025
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Such an explosion would happen to the smallest possible black holes, at most, once every 100,000 years, according to previous theories.—
Robert Lea,
Space.com,
12 Sep. 2025
Noun
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As part of the new study, Knutsen and her team programmed Perseverance's cameras to watch the sky after solar eruptions known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs) blasted in the direction of Mars.—
Sharmila Kuthunur,
Space.com,
15 Sep. 2025
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Kamchatka sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where tectonic activity frequently triggers earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.—
Amanda Castro
John Feng,
MSNBC Newsweek,
15 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Detonation.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/detonation. Accessed 18 Sep. 2025.
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