explosive
Noun pluralexplosives
Pluralexplosives
- 1Capable of exploding, or likely to do so.
Investigators determined that the device contained an explosive compound.
Fine flour dust can turn explosive when suspended in the air of a mill.
Similarvolatile, unstable, combustible
Oppositeinert, nonflammable, implosive
Note
The root sense of the family is built from explōs-, the stem of the Latin perfect passive participle of explōdō, plus the suffix -ive. Its opposites split two ways. Implosive reverses the direction of the burst, inward instead of outward. Inert and nonflammable describe a material that will not go off at all. An explosive device threatens; an inert one does not.
- 2A substance capable of exploding, especially one made for blasting or demolition.
Engineers placed the explosive at the base of the bridge before the demolition.
Modern explosives are far more stable than nineteenth-century dynamite.
- 3Shocking or startling, producing a sudden and dramatic reaction.
The journalist published explosive allegations against the company's directors.
An explosive revelation in the final chapter changed how readers saw everything.
Similarshocking, sensational, startling, damning
- 4Increasing or accelerating at a very rapid rate.
The startup experienced explosive expansion across several global markets.
Social media drove explosive demand for the limited-edition product.
Similarrapid, dramatic, exponential, meteoric, runaway
Oppositeslow, gradual, sluggish, modest
Note
Two settings share this sense. In talk of markets and demand it describes growth that climbs steeply. In athletic training it describes explosive movements, the quick, forceful efforts of the gym. There plyometric is the coaches' near-synonym. The figure is the same in both: a sudden release of force. Only the thing accelerating changes.
- 5Easily provoked to anger, usually said of a person with a volatile temper.
Their explosive coworker could turn a small disagreement into a shouting match.
He was known for an explosive personality that made colleagues wary.
Similarvolatile, fiery, temperamental, hotheaded, irascible
Oppositecalm, placid, easygoing, mild
Note
Here the image of detonation is carried over to temperament. The anger arrives suddenly and out of proportion, which separates it from ordinary irritability. The sense is slang, so it suits conversation and casual writing better than a formal report. It is usually said of a person or their nature, as in an explosive personality, not of a single outburst. A single outburst belongs to the "like an explosion" sense.
- 6
- 7Describing a cellular automaton rule that tends toward infinite, unpredictable growth from finite random starting patterns.
An explosive rule will keep filling the grid without ever reaching a stable state.
They classified the automaton as explosive after observing its unbounded growth.
Note
In cellular automata the word is a term of art, met most often in the phrase explosive growth. It describes a rule that, seeded with a small random patch, keeps spreading instead of settling down. It narrows the general "like an explosion" sense to one technical behavior. Its opposite is simply non-explosive, the word Ilmari Karonen used in 2003 for rules that can grow without running away.
Less common meanings
- 8Designating a consonant produced by fully blocking the airflow and then releasing it suddenly; equivalent to plosive.
Early phoneticians classified p, t, and k as explosive consonants.
The old grammar described the explosive release that ends each of these stops.
Similarplosive
Note
Older phonetics called p, t and k the explosive consonants, naming them for the burst of air that ends each one. The adjective is archaic in this use, and modern descriptions say plosive instead. A reader who meets explosive consonants in an old grammar should translate the term that way. It does not name a separate class of sound.
- 9A consonant formed by stopping the airflow completely and releasing it in a sudden burst; a plosive.
The word begins with an explosive followed immediately by a long vowel.
The words of these songs were either without meaning, or derived from an idiom with which Watt, a very fair linguist, had no acquaintance. The open a sound was predominant, and the explosives k and g.
1953, Samuel Beckett, WattNote
The noun has aged less than the archaic adjective: it is dated, not archaic. Samuel Beckett could still write in Watt (1953) of songs dominated by the open a sound and "the explosives k and g." For current writing, plosive is the safe choice. Explosive as a noun is worth recognizing mainly when reading earlier work.
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Origin
From explōs-, the stem of the perfect passive participle of the Latin verb explōdō, combined with the suffix -ive.