Meanings
present singular third person detonates · participle present detonating · participle past detonated · past detonated
- intransitiveTo explode, blow up
The “Fat Man” detonated at 11:02 a.m.
2026 September 7, Abby Norman, Cara Johnson, “How The Atomic Bombing Of Nagasaki Brought World War 2 To A Violent End”, in All That's Interesting, archived from the original on 09 Sep 2026Synonyms: blast
- especiallyintransitiveTo combust or decompose supersonically via shock compression.
Synonyms: blast · Antonyms: deflagrate
- transitiveTo cause to explode.
The engineers detonated the dynamite and watched the old building collapse.
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo explode, blow up
More synonyms by meaning
verbcause to burst with a violent release of energy
verbburst and release energy as through a violent chemical or physical reaction
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*(s)tenh₂-
- Latindētonātus
- Frenchdétoner
- Englishdetonate
First attested in 1729; either borrowed from French détoner or directly from Latin dētonātus, perfect passive participle of dētonō (“to thunder down (strongly); (figuratively, of a person) to thunder, speak threateningly, to rage; to stop thundering”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from dē- (“off, from”) + tonō (“to thunder”)). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tenh₂-. The current interlingual meaning seems to be a new formation in postclassical times (to thunder → make a large noise → explode), compare explode.
More words from French, Latin, Proto-Indo-European
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian възпламенявам, избухвам
- възпламенявам (văzplamenjavam)to cause to explode
- избухвам (izbuhvam)to explode
Chinese Mandarin 引爆, 爆炸
- 引爆 (yǐnbào)to cause to explode
- 爆炸 (bàozhà)to explode
Finnish räjäyttää, räjähtää
- räjäyttääto cause to explode
- räjähtääto explode
- pamahtaato explode
French détoner, détoner
- détonerto cause to explode
- détonerto explode
German detonieren
- detonierento cause to explode
Hebrew פוצץ, התפוצץ
- פוצץ (potséts)to cause to explode
- התפוצץ (hitpotséts)to explode
Hungarian robbant, felrobbant
- robbantto cause to explode
- felrobbantto cause to explode
- kirobbantto cause to explode
- robbanto explode
- felrobbanto explode
Italian far detonare, far esplodere
- far detonareto cause to explode
- far esplodereto cause to explode
- detonareto explode
- esplodereto explode
Japanese 爆発させる
- 爆発させる (bakuhatsu saseru)to cause to explode
Māori whakapakū, pakū
- whakapakūto cause to explode
- pakūto explode
- pohūto explode
Portuguese detonar, detonar
- detonarto cause to explode
- detonarto explode
- explodirto explode
Romanian detona, a face să explodeze
- detonato cause to explode
- a face să explodezeto cause to explode
- explodato explode
Russian взрыва́ть, взорва́ть
- взрыва́ть (vzryvátʹ)to cause to explode
- взорва́ть (vzorvátʹ)to cause to explode
- детони́ровать (detonírovatʹ)to cause to explode
- взрыва́ться (vzryvátʹsja)to explode
- взорва́ться (vzorvátʹsja)to explode
Spanish detonar, detonarse
- detonarto cause to explode
- detonarseto explode
Swedish detonera
- detonerato explode
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
detonate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/detonate
“detonate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/detonate. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “detonate,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/detonate.
Source: detonate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.