explode
/ɪkˈsploʊd/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.80 in modern English
17
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To fly apart with sudden violent force; to blow up, to burst, to detonate, to go off.
Intransitive verb
verb
To make a violent or emotional outburst; to suddenly give expression to powerful and often negative or unpleasant emotion, especially anger.
Intransitive verb
verb
To increase arbitrarily or boundlessly.
Example Sentences
- "The bomb explodes."
- "But signalman Bridges was never to answer driver Gimbert's desperate question. A deafening, massive blast blew the wagon to shreds, the 44 high-explosive bombs exploding like simultaneous hits from the aircraft they should have been dropped from. The station was instantly reduced to bits of debris, and the line to a huge crater."
- "The assassin exploded the car by means of a car bomb."
- "She exploded when I criticised her hat."
- "Dobbin […] fell back in the crowd, crowing and sputtering until he reached a safe distance, when he exploded amongst the astonished market-people with shrieks of yelling laughter."
- "“Nonsense!” Jack exploded at me. “Why Miss Bertram here knocked that theory into a cocked hat coming over on the train.”"
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰ Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰs Proto-Italic *eks Latin ex Latin ex- Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂-? Proto-Indo-European *pel-? Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂-u-h₂- Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂-u-d- Latin plaudō Latin explōdōbor. English explode 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.
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
- Root: -
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɪkˈsploʊd/
- British English: /ɪkˈspləʊd/
Usage
Inflected Forms
explodes (present, singular)
exploding (participle, present)
exploded (participle, past)
exploded (past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
exploded (first person, past)
explodest (archaic, present)
exploded (past, second person)
explodedst (archaic, past)
explodeth (archaic, present)
exploded (past, singular)