DETONATION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does detonation mean? 

• DETONATION (noun)
  The noun DETONATION has 2 senses:

1. a violent release of energy caused by a chemical or nuclear reaction

2. the act of detonating an explosive

  Familiarity information: DETONATION used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DETONATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A violent release of energy caused by a chemical or nuclear reaction

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

blowup; detonation; explosion

Hypernyms ("detonation" is a kind of...):

discharge (the sudden giving off of energy)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "detonation"):

airburst (an explosion in the atmosphere)

blast (an explosion (as of dynamite))

backfire (a loud noise made by the explosion of fuel in the manifold or exhaust of an internal combustion engine)

big bang ((cosmology) the cosmic explosion that is hypothesized to have marked the origin of the universe)

backfire; blowback (the backward escape of gases and unburned gunpowder after a gun is fired)

fragmentation (the scattering of bomb fragments after the bomb explodes)

inflation ((cosmology) a brief exponential expansion of the universe (faster than the speed of light) postulated to have occurred shortly after the big bang)

Derivation:

detonate (burst and release energy as through a violent chemical or physical reaction)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The act of detonating an explosive

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("detonation" is a kind of...):

burst; explosion (the act of exploding or bursting)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "detonation"):

percussion (the act of exploding a percussion cap)

Derivation:

detonate (cause to burst with a violent release of energy)

 Context examples 

Upon detonation, a first blast wave expelled an expanding fireball of plasma, a hot gas of electrically charged particles.

(Space Weather Events Linked to Human Activity, NASA)