detonate

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin detonō, detonātus. It meant "to stop thundering", e.g. as in weather (de- = "from", tonare = "to thunder"). The current English meaning seems to be a new formation in postclassical times.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɛtəneɪt/

• 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 supersonically via shock compression.
2. (transitive) To cause to explode.

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

Synonyms

• blast
• discharge
• fulminate

Antonyms

• (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 (hitpotséts)

• 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 (potséts)
• Ido: detonar (io)
• 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

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Ido

Adverb

detonate

1. adverbial present passive participle of detonar

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Italian

Verb

detonate

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

Verb

detonate f pl

1. feminine plural of detonato

Anagrams

• denotate

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Latin

Verb

dētonāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of dētonō