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
The warhead is engineered for penetration before detonation.
—
Munis Raza, Interesting Engineering, 23 Mar. 2026
Using a converted container ship, the IRGC fired a ballistic missile to simulate a high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (EMP) detonation.
—Chuck Devore, Twin Cities, 22 Mar. 2026
The report suggested possible causes for the premature fuze detonation but determined that military personnel were not at fault.
—Los Angeles Times, 17 Mar. 2026
The energy imparted would have been equivalent to 6 million tons of TNT, or basically a large nuclear detonation.
—Keith Cooper, Space.com, 5 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for detonation
Munis Raza, Interesting Engineering, 23 Mar. 2026
Using a converted container ship, the IRGC fired a ballistic missile to simulate a high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (EMP) detonation.
—Chuck Devore, Twin Cities, 22 Mar. 2026
The report suggested possible causes for the premature fuze detonation but determined that military personnel were not at fault.
—Los Angeles Times, 17 Mar. 2026
The energy imparted would have been equivalent to 6 million tons of TNT, or basically a large nuclear detonation.
—Keith Cooper, Space.com, 5 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for detonation
Recent Examples of Synonyms for detonation
Noun
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The arraignment continues for six out of the eight people arrested in connection with the Esparto explosion that killed seven men.—
Kayla Moeller,
CBS News,
17 Apr. 2026
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The video allowed researchers to calculate the trajectory of the missile flying uncharacteristically low and match it with other reports of explosions, Lair said.—
Jane Lytvynenko,
NBC news,
17 Apr. 2026
Noun
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That person belongs to a different time, to a different town and to people who cannot be expected to remain the same, any more than the slopes of a volcano can be expected to still be molten rock an eon after the last eruption.—
Jessica Kiang,
Variety,
17 Apr. 2026
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Major eruptions of pushback against Meta include the Cambridge Analytica scandal in 2018, when the unauthorized harvesting of personal data from up to 87 million Facebook users was used for political advertising, adding to criticisms that the site pushes divisive and extreme political content.—
Ryan Cormier,
USA Today,
15 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Detonation.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/detonation. Accessed 21 Apr. 2026.
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