detonate

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin dētonō, dētonātus, which meant "to stop thundering", e.g. as in weather (dē- (“from”) +‎ tonāre (“thunder”)). The current English meaning seems to be a new formation in postclassical times.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdɛtəneɪt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdɛʔ.ə.neɪt/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Verb

detonate (third-person singular simple present detonates, present participle detonating, simple past and past participle detonated)

1. (intransitive) To explode; to blow up. Specifically, to combust or decompose supersonically via shock compression.
2. (transitive) To cause to explode.

   The engineers detonated the dynamite and watched the old building collapse.

3. (intransitive, figurative) To express sudden anger.
   • 2013, Michael J. Restrepo, The Custody Officer, page 116:

     As Oscar turned to greet Yvonne, she could see every muscle in his body contract in anger. Then he detonated. “What the hell are you doing here without an appointment? […]

Synonyms

• blast
• discharge
• fulminate

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of "with respect to speed of prorogation"): deflagrate

Hypernyms

• combust

Related terms

• detonatable
• detonation
• detonator

Translations

to explode

• Bulgarian: избухвам (bg) (izbuhvam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 爆炸 (zh) (bàozhà)

• Finnish: räjähtää (fi), pamahtaa (fi)
• French: détonner (fr)
• Hebrew: התפוצץ (he) (hitpotséts)
• Hungarian: robban (hu), felrobban (hu)
• Ido: detonar (io)
• Italian: detonare (it), esplodere (it)
• Portuguese: detonar (pt), explodir (pt)
• Romanian: exploda (ro)
• Russian: взрыва́ться (ru) impf (vzryvátʹsja), взорва́ться (ru) pf (vzorvátʹsja)
• Swedish: detonera (sv)

to cause to explode

• Bulgarian: възпламенявам (bg) (vǎzplamenjavam)
• Chechen: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 引爆 (zh) (yǐnbào)

• Finnish: räjäyttää (fi)
• French: détoner (fr), détonner (fr)
• German: detonieren (de)
• Hebrew: פוצץ (he) (potséts)
• Hungarian: robbant (hu), felrobbant (hu), (figuratively) kirobbant (hu)
• Ido: detonar (io)
• Ingrian: revittää
• Italian: far detonare, far esplodere
• Japanese: 爆発させる (ja) (ばくはつさせる, bakuhatsu saseru)
• Maori: whakapakū
• Portuguese: detonar (pt)
• Romanian: detona (ro), a face să explodeze
• Russian: взрыва́ть (ru) impf (vzryvátʹ), взорва́ть (ru) pf (vzorvátʹ), детони́ровать (ru) impf (detonírovatʹ)

Anagrams

• denotate

Ido

Adverb

detonate

1. adverbial present passive participle of detonar

Italian

Etymology 1

Verb

detonate

1. inflection of detonare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

Participle

detonate f pl

1. feminine plural of detonato

Anagrams

• denotate

Latin

Verb

dētonāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of dētonō

Spanish

Verb

detonate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of detonar combined with te