detonate
verb
det·o·nate
ˈde-tᵊn-ˌāt 
ˈde-tə-ˌnāt
detonated; detonating
: to explode with sudden violence
1
: to cause to detonate
detonate a bomb
compare deflagrate
2
: to set off in a burst of activity : spark
programs that detonated controversies
Examples of detonate in a Sentence
The first atomic bomb was detonated in 1945.
the bomb detonated with a thunder that could be heard for blocks in all directions
Recent Examples on the Web
His wife, Shannon, a Navy cryptologist, was killed in 2019 along with three other Americans when a suicide bomber detonated his vest outside a restaurant in Manbij, in northern Syria.
—
arkansasonline.com, 23 Mar. 2025
Unhappy with the direction of his career, the 31-year-old director intentionally detonated it by going back to his hometown of Baton Rouge to make this $250,000 experimental film, starring himself, with a small crew of close collaborators over the course of nine months.
—David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 14 Mar. 2025
Most of the iron in our blood and the sulfur in our amino acids originated in stars that detonated billions of years ago.
—Jayson Stewart, IEEE Spectrum, 5 Mar. 2025
Philby died in 1988, by all reports a disillusioned man, but he’d already been killed off onscreen the year before in the opening moments of this Frederick Forsyth adaptation, in which a rogue branch of the KGB plots to build and detonate a bomb on British soil.
—Keith Phipps, Vulture, 19 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for detonate
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arkansasonline.com, 23 Mar. 2025
Unhappy with the direction of his career, the 31-year-old director intentionally detonated it by going back to his hometown of Baton Rouge to make this $250,000 experimental film, starring himself, with a small crew of close collaborators over the course of nine months.
—David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 14 Mar. 2025
Most of the iron in our blood and the sulfur in our amino acids originated in stars that detonated billions of years ago.
—Jayson Stewart, IEEE Spectrum, 5 Mar. 2025
Philby died in 1988, by all reports a disillusioned man, but he’d already been killed off onscreen the year before in the opening moments of this Frederick Forsyth adaptation, in which a rogue branch of the KGB plots to build and detonate a bomb on British soil.
—Keith Phipps, Vulture, 19 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for detonate
Cite this Entry
“Detonate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/detonate. Accessed 8 Apr. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
detonate
verb
det·o·nate
ˈdet-ᵊn-ˌāt
ˈdet-ə-ˌnāt
detonated; detonating
: to explode or cause to explode with sudden violence
detonation
noun
ˌdet-ᵊn-ˈā-shən
ˌdet-ə-ˈnā-
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