detonate

English

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdɛtəneɪt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈdɛtəˌneɪt/, [ˈdɛɾəˌneɪt], [ˈdɛʔ.əˌneɪt]
• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈdetənæɪt/, [ˈdeɾənæɪt]

Verb

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

1. (intransitive) To explode, blow up

   Synonym: blast

   1. (especially) To combust or decompose supersonically via shock compression.

      Antonym: deflagrate

2. (transitive) To cause to explode.

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

3. (intransitive, figurative) To express sudden anger.

   Synonyms: fulminate, thunder

   • 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? […]

Hypernyms

• combust

Derived terms

• detcord
• detonatable
• detonation
• detonative
• detonator
• nondetonating
• undetonated

Related terms

• stentorian
• Thor
• thunder
• Thursday

Translations

to explode

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

  Mandarin: 爆炸 (zh) (bàozhà)

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

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