explode

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   burst outward, usually with noise

   The champagne bottle exploded

2. 2
   verb

   cause to burst with a violent release of energy

   We exploded the nuclear bomb

3. 3
   verb

   show a violent emotional reaction

   The boss exploded when they heard of yet another employee's resignation.

4. 4
   verb

   destroy by exploding

   The enemy exploded the bridge

5. 5
   verb

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

   The bomb explodes.

6. 6
   verb

   To destroy with an explosion.

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

7. 7
   verb

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

   She exploded when I criticised her hat.

8. 8
   verb

   To increase suddenly.

   When pigeons can come to a spot day in and day out for a guaranteed meal, their populations explode.

Etymology

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.