explode

CEFRB1

/ɪkˈspləʊd/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To burst suddenly and violently into pieces or flames.

  2. 02

    verb

    To suddenly show strong anger or emotion.

Examples

  • The news caused him to explode with anger.

  • She exploded when I criticised her hat.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • /ɪkˈsploʊd/

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To destroy with an explosion.

  2. To make a violent or emotional outburst; to suddenly give expression to powerful and often negative or unpleasant emotion, especially anger.

  3. To fly apart with sudden violent force; to blow up, to burst, to detonate, to go off.

More examples

In context

  • The assassin exploded the car by means of a car bomb.

  • Steam boilers may explode.

  • The bomb explodes.

Synonyms

Antonyms

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Nearby

Origin

verb

First recorded around 1538, from the Latin verb explōdere (“drive out or off by clapping”). The meaning was originally theatrical, "to drive an actor off the stage by making noise," hence meaning to "to drive out" or "to reject". From ex- (“out”) + plaudere (“to clap; to applaud”). In English it used to mean to "drive out with violence and sudden noise" (from around 1660), and later meaning to "go off with a loud noise" (from around 1790). The sense of "bursting with destructive force" is first recorded around 1882.