explosive

B2 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ɛkˈsploʊsɪv/ UK /ɛkˈspləʊsɪv/ See IPA manual

Freq #6424

Meanings

1

adj
Able to explode or likely to explode.

Police found an explosive device hidden in the building.
2

adj
Likely to cause sudden anger, argument, or violence.

Immigration has become an explosive political issue.
3

adj
Sudden and loud.

There was an explosive burst of applause.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

2 adj · likely to cause sudden... volatile

Word family

Forms explosives

Derived forms autoexplosivecryptoexplosiveelectroexplosiveexplosivelyexplosivenessinexplosivemicroexplosivenonexplosivesila-explosivesuperexplosivesuperexplosivelyunexplosive

Related forms explode

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

explosive device
an object designed to explode and release energy suddenly

Adjective + noun

Etymology

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

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# explosive

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ɛkˈsploʊsɪv/
**IPA (UK):** /ɛkˈspləʊsɪv/
**Frequency rank:** 6424

## Meanings
1. Able to explode or likely to explode.
2. Likely to cause sudden anger, argument, or violence.
3. Sudden and loud.

## Examples
- Police found an explosive device hidden in the building.
- Immigration has become an explosive political issue.
- There was an explosive burst of applause.

## Derived Forms
- autoexplosive
- cryptoexplosive
- electroexplosive
- explosively
- explosiveness
- inexplosive
- microexplosive
- nonexplosive
- sila-explosive
- superexplosive
- superexplosively
- unexplosive

## Related Forms
- explode

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

## AI Etymology
Explosive comes from Latin explōs-, stem of the perfect passive participle of explōdō + the suffix -ive. In current use, the main senses are “Able to explode or likely to explode” and “Likely to cause sudden anger, argument, or violence”.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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