detonation

Language: en

🇺🇸 /ˌdɛtəˈneɪʃən/

📖 Definitions

  1. noun
    The act or process of exploding with sudden violence; a sudden, violent explosion.; A type of combustion in an internal combustion engine where the fuel-air mixture ignites prematurely or burns too rapidly, causing a knocking sound and potential engine damage.; In chemistry and physics, a supersonic exothermic front that propagates through a medium, driven by a shock wave compressing and heating the material ahead of it.

🔗 Details

Word forms

countable Plural: detonations

Collocations

nuclear detonationcontrolled detonationpremature detonationcause a detonationtrigger a detonation

Derivatives

detonatedetonatordetonativepredetonationdetonable

Synonyms

explosionblastburstbangdischargeblowup

Antonyms

implosion

Commonly confused

explosion
EN: 'Explosion' is a general term for any sudden violent release of energy; 'detonation' specifically refers to an explosion involving supersonic combustion (a detonation wave).
detonator
EN: 'Detonator' is the device that triggers a detonation; 'detonation' is the event itself.

Spelling tips

EN: Remember the double 't' in 'detonation' (from Latin 'detonare'). Do not confuse with 'detonation' vs. 'detonaton' (missing 'a').

💬 Examples

  1. The detonation of the bomb shattered windows several blocks away.

  2. Using fuel with too low an octane rating can cause detonation in high-performance engines.

  3. The detonation wave traveled through the explosive material at several kilometers per second.