Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

explosive

/ɛkˈsploʊsɪv/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: 3.97 in modern English

Syllables: ex-plo-sive
IPA: /ɛkˈsploʊsɪv/

21

Scrabble Score

9

Letters

3

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Able to, or likely to, explode.

adj

Having the character of an explosion.

adj

Having the character of an explosion.

adj

Rapidly accelerating.

adj

Shocking; startling.

adj

Easily driven to anger, usually with reference to a person.

Slang

adj

Synonym of plosive.

Archaic

noun

Any explosive substance.

Example Sentences

"an explosive device"
"an explosive fire"
"Notes: A rule set that (very probably) results in explosive growth; certainly in area if not population."
"For example, putting a 1 at (0: 1,1) will cause explosive growth in all directions, putting a 1 at (0: 0,2A) will cause pairs of diagonal cells in a 2x2 square to alternate on and off, putting a 1 at (1: 4,4) will cause all solid 1 areas to stay 1 for another cycle, etc."
"If the rule is further chosen so that active cells can (and must) expand on an inactive background but inactive cells can't do so on an active background (or vice versa), then non-explosive growth becomes possible."
"Near-synonym: plyometric"

Etymology

From Latin explōs-, stem of the perfect passive participle of explōdō + the suffix -ive.

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ɛkˈsploʊsɪv/
British English: /ɛkˈspləʊsɪv/

Usage

Inflected Forms

more explosive (comparative) most explosive (superlative) explosives (plural)

Derived Forms

autoexplosive cryptoexplosive electroexplosive explosively explosiveness inexplosive microexplosive nonexplosive superexplosive superexplosively unexplosive

Phrases

contact explosive explosive belt explosive bolt explosive cyclogenesis explosive decompression explosive gelatin explosive lens explosive sadism

Frequently Paired Words

explode incendiary flammable

Synonyms

plyometric plosive volatile

Antonyms

implosive inert nonflammable

Rhymes With

corrosive erosive plosive

Questions

How do you pronounce explosive?: The recorded pronunciation is /ɛkˈsploʊsɪv/.
What does explosive mean?: Able to, or likely to, explode.
Where does explosive come from?: From Latin explōs-, stem of the perfect passive participle of explōdō + the suffix -ive.

How to pronounce explosive

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “explosive”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ɛkˈsploʊsɪv/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
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