airburst

noun

air·​burst ˈer-ˌbərst How to pronounce airburst (audio)
variants or air burst
: the burst of a shell or bomb in the air

Examples of airburst in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The Chelyabinsk airburst, caused when a small asteroid entered Earth's atmosphere and exploded over a Russian city in February 2013, rattled many astronomers, space agencies and governments, and partly in response to this dramatic event, NASA reactivated NEOWISE in September 2013. Keith Cooper, Space.com, 13 Feb. 2025 Scientists now believe this was due to a meteor airburst. Jonathan Granoff, Newsweek, 29 Jan. 2025 But previous experience from WWII shows just how effective this type of airburst weapon is. David Hambling, Forbes, 4 Sep. 2024 Tall el-Hammam may have been destroyed by a massive cosmic airburst and may have been the biblical Sodom. Matthew Gavin Frank, Harper's Magazine, 21 Jan. 2022 See all Example Sentences for airburst 

Word History

First Known Use

1914, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of airburst was in 1914

Dictionary Entries Near airburst

Cite this Entry

“Airburst.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/airburst. Accessed 19 Feb. 2025.

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