| Meaning | A violent release of energy caused by a chemical or nuclear reaction. |
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| Synonyms | explosion, blowup |
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| Narrower | airburst | An explosion in the atmosphere |
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| backfire | A loud noise made by the explosion of fuel in the manifold or exhaust of an internal combustion engine |
| big bang | (cosmology) the cosmic explosion that is hypothesized to have marked the origin of the universe |
| blast | An explosion (as of dynamite) |
| blowback, backfire | The backward escape of gases and unburned gunpowder after a gun is fired |
| fragmentation | The scattering of bomb fragments after the bomb explodes |
| inflation | (cosmology) a brief exponential expansion of the universe (faster than the speed of light) postulated to have occurred shortly after the big bang |
| Broader | discharge | The sudden giving off of energy |
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| Spanish | detonación, explosion, explosión |
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| Catalan | detonació, explosió |
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| Verbs | detonate | burst and release energy as through a violent chemical or physical reaction |
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