Words / B1

ik-SPLOHZHN/ɪkˈspləʊʒn/

An explosion is a blast, or a sudden surge: a gas explosion; an explosion of interest. Explode is the verb. Blast is a close noun for the physical sense. Boom can be economic. Plant explosions lead to evacuations. Do not call a small pop an explosion in a report without cause.

Meaning

A loud bursting of something; also a sudden large increase.

Examples

• “An explosion at the plant led to a full evacuation.”
• “There was an explosion of complaints after the outage, which is the surge sense.”

Good to know

a gas / bomb explosion; an explosion of + noun. Verb: explode. Close (physical): blast. Economic: a boom. HSE and news. Not a balloon pop.

Near in meaning

blast

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