Explosion

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Explosion \Ex*plo"sion\, n. [L. explosio a driving off by
     clapping: cf. F. explosion explosion. See {Explode}.]
     1. The act of exploding; detonation; a chemical action which
        causes the sudden formation of a great volume of expanded
        gas; as, the explosion of gunpowder, of fire damp, etc.
        [1913 Webster]


  
     2. A bursting with violence and loud noise, because of
        internal pressure; as, the explosion of a gun, a bomb, a
        steam boiler, etc.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. A violent outburst of feeling, manifested by excited
        language, action, etc.; as, an explosion of wrath.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              A formidable explosion of high-church fanaticism.
                                                    --Macaulay.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. a sudden and substantial increase; a rapid acceleration;
        as, the population explosion.
        [PJC]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  explosion
       n 1: a violent release of energy caused by a chemical or nuclear
            reaction [syn: {detonation}, {blowup}]
       2: the act of exploding or bursting something; "the explosion
          of the firecrackers awoke the children"; "the burst of an
          atom bomb creates enormous radiation aloft" [syn: {burst}]
       3: a sudden great increase; "the population explosion"; "the
          information explosion"
       4: the noise caused by an explosion; "the explosion was heard a
          mile away"
       5: the terminal forced release of pressure built up during the
          occlusive phase of a stop consonant [syn: {plosion}]
       6: a sudden outburst; "an explosion of laughter"; "an explosion
          of rage"
       7: a golf shot from a bunker that typically moves sand as well
          as the golf ball

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  91 Moby Thesaurus words for "explosion":
     accelerando, acceleration, access, aggravation, backfire, bang,
     bark, beefing-up, blast, blaze, blaze of temper, blowing up,
     blowout, blowup, boom, burgeoning, burst, clap, concentration,
     condensation, consolidation, convulsion, crack, crash, cyclone,
     deepening, detonation, discharge, disconfirmation, disproof,
     disproval, disproving, enhancement, eruption, exacerbation,
     exaggeration, expansion, expose, exposure, fit, flare, flare-up,
     flash, fulguration, fulmination, fusillade, gale, gunshot, gust,
     heating-up, heightening, high words, hurricane, increase,
     information explosion, intensification, invalidation, irruption,
     magnification, mushrooming, negation, outbreak, outburst, paddy,
     paroxysm, pickup, pop, population explosion, redargution,
     redoubling, reductio ad absurdum, reinforcement, report, sally,
     salvo, scene, seizure, shot, spasm, speedup, step-up, storm,
     strengthening, tantrum, tempest, tightening, tornado, upheaval,
     volley, wax, whirlwind