exploding

verb

present participle of explode
1
as in detonating
to break open or into pieces usually because of internal pressure the building was wrecked when a powerful bomb exploded

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2
as in shattering
to cause to break open or into pieces by or as if by an explosive the bomb was so powerful that it exploded windows in several neighboring buildings

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in erupting
to develop suddenly and violently the mayor's latest unpopular decision caused long-suppressed resentment to explode into open anger

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of exploding Those reforms led to huge reduction in poverty, an exploding middle class and a scramble by foreign companies to access the lucrative Chinese market. — Cnn Staff, CNN Money, 12 Aug. 2026 The Tremont fire comes just days after an exploding Tesla in Seattle sent two firefighters to the hospital. — Joe Wilkins, Futurism, 12 Aug. 2026 China’s debt is exploding, and has now reached more than 300% of GDP. — Andy Browne, semafor.com, 11 Aug. 2026 France became the world’s fifth thermonuclear power, exploding a hydrogen bomb in a test on French Polynesia. — USA Today, 11 Aug. 2026 This could give astronomers an early warning, allowing telescopes to turn toward the exploding star while its light is still arriving. — Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 9 Aug. 2026 In the mid-’90s, the web was exploding, but finding anything of actual value on it felt like an elaborate negotiation with whatever proto-search engine happened to be standing closest to the door. — Alan Bradley, ArsTechnica, 7 Aug. 2026 Can new memories of music, dance, and fireworks exploding into color over an ancient, battered city undo, or even weaken, the memory of bombs falling? — Lina Sergie Attar, Time, 6 Aug. 2026 The vehicle became engulfed in flames before exploding, damaging the launchpad and nearby equipment as well as destroying the rocket. — Angelique Brenes, PEOPLE, 6 Aug. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for exploding
  1. detonating
  2. shattering
  3. erupting
  4. popping
  5. smashing
  6. blowing
  7. demolishing
  8. bursting
Verb
  • Just weeks before her confrontation with Cunningham, Carrington sent shockwaves through the WNBA by publicly detonating her former relationship on social media.
    — Jackson Thompson OutKick, FOXNews.com, 9 Aug. 2026
  • Anvil is a smaller, faster aircraft designed to destroy hostile drones by colliding with them or detonating nearby.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 7 Aug. 2026
Definition of detonating
Verb
  • In 2018 a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 fan blade snapped, shattering a window and sucking a woman’s head and torso outside of the plane.
    — Alexandra Skores, CNN Money, 13 Aug. 2026
  • Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said Ace protected the three deputies from Bowers but was shot in his left front leg, shattering the bone and tearing an artery that caused massive blood loss.
    — Michael Sinkewicz, FOXNews.com, 12 Aug. 2026
Definition of shattering
Verb
  • That’s much better than analysts expected and would be the best since five years ago, when the economy was erupting out of the chasm created by the COVID-19 pandemic emergency.
    — Stan Choe, Los Angeles Times, 17 Aug. 2026
  • Brian Osorio Zuluaga/Facebook The five men in the video slowly remove the baby then shout for a paramedic before erupting in a euphoric cheer.
    — Duarte Dias, CBS News, 12 Aug. 2026
Definition of erupting
Verb
  • The 25-year-old from California opened the final with some swagger, popping four aces in the first game, but his self-assurance quickly ebbed.
    — Ava Wallace, New York Times, 14 Aug. 2026
  • The eye-popping gains of Nvidia, Micron, Alphabet and other AI stocks have helped inflate the net worths of millions of Americans by lifting the value of their retirement nest eggs, college savings plans and brokerage accounts.
    — Matt Egan, CNN Money, 13 Aug. 2026
Definition of popping
Verb
  • This year, conditions including a record-smashing March heat wave led to a surge in California’s native Culex mosquitoes, the transmitters of West Nile virus.
    — Lila Seidman, Los Angeles Times, 16 Aug. 2026
  • Democratic turnout in these races is smashing through records — not always to the benefit of the left.
    — David Weigel, semafor.com, 12 Aug. 2026
Definition of smashing
Verb
  • City leaders have accused Lineage, whose warehouse in Boyle Heights was destroyed by fire, of blowing past the city’s 45-day deadline for removing millions of pounds of rotting food from its property.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 15 Aug. 2026
  • Inequality has accelerated at an ever-growing pace, blowing past that of any previous eras, including the Gilded Age.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 14 Aug. 2026
Definition of blowing
Verb
  • Trump has faced widespread criticism for demolishing the East Wing of the White House to make room for the grand ballroom design.
    — Callum Sutherland, Time, 11 Aug. 2026
  • Despite being identified decades ago, the exact trigger of the joint-demolishing condition is still unclear.
    — Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 31 July 2026
Definition of demolishing
Verb
  • The wealth of the richest Americans has torqued upward, bursting through the top of the graph, with no end in sight, completely untethered from the rest of the United States.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 14 Aug. 2026
  • Murphy has built an empire by keeping a full-to-bursting pipeline of shows and returning to certain creative wells.
    — CT Jones, Rolling Stone, 8 Aug. 2026
Definition of bursting

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explodes
exploding
exploit
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Cite this Entry

“Exploding.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/exploding. Accessed 20 Aug. 2026.

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Nglish: Translation of exploding for Spanish Speakers

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