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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

detonate.

To explode, blow up

8 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈdɛtəneɪt/Received-Pronunciation/ˈdɛtəˌneɪt/Canada, General-American[ˈdɛɾəˌneɪt]Canada, General-American[ˈdɛʔ.əˌneɪt]Canada, General-American
  1. To explode, blow up

    intransitive
  2. To explode, blow up To combust or decompose supersonically via shock compression.

    especially · intransitive
  3. To cause to explode.

    transitive
    The engineers detonated the dynamite and watched the old building collapse.
  4. To express sudden anger.

    figuratively · intransitive
Where this word comes from

First attested in 1729; either borrowed from French détoner or directly from Latin dētonātus, perfect passive participle of dētonō (“to thunder down (strongly); (figuratively, of a person) to thunder, speak threateningly, to rage; to stop thundering”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from dē- (“off, from”) + tonō (“to thunder”)). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tenh₂-. The current interlingual meaning seems to be a new formation in postclassical times (to thunder → make a large noise → explode), compare explode.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.