Explosive \Ex*plo"sive\, a. [Cf. F. explosif.]
Driving or bursting out with violence and noise; causing
explosion; as, the explosive force of gunpowder.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Explosive \Ex*plo"sive\, n.
1. An explosive agent; a compound or mixture susceptible of a
rapid chemical reaction, as gunpowder, TNT,
dynamite, or nitro-glycerine.
[1913 Webster +PJC]
2. A sound produced by an explosive impulse of the breath;
(Phonetics) one of consonants p, b, t, d, k, g, which are
sounded with a sort of explosive power of voice.
Note: [See Guide to Pronunciation, [root] 155-7, 184.]
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
explosive
adj 1: tending or serving to explode or characterized by explosion
or sudden outburst; "an explosive device"; "explosive
gas"; "explosive force"; "explosive violence"; "an
explosive temper" [ant: nonexplosive]
2: liable to lead to sudden change or violence; "an explosive
issue"; "a volatile situation with troops and rioters
eager for a confrontation" [syn: volatile]
3: sudden and loud; "an explosive laugh"
n : a chemical substance that undergoes a rapid chemical change
(with the production of gas) on being heated or struck
WordNet (r) 2.0
166 Moby Thesaurus words for "explosive":
Ballistite, TNT, agitable, alarming, allophone, alveolar, anxious,
apico-alveolar, apico-dental, articulation, aspiration,
assimilation, bad, banging, bilabial, blasting, bursting,
cacuminal, cellulose nitrate, cerebral, chancy, check, combustible,
consonant, continuant, cordite, cracking, crashing, critical,
dangerous, dangersome, delicate, dental, detonating, dicey,
diphthong, dissimilation, dynamite, edgy, emotional,
emotionally unstable, epenthetic vowel, eruptive, excitable,
explodable, exploding, explosible, fiery, flapping, fraught,
fraught with danger, fulminating, gelignite, glide, glottal,
glottalization, gunpowder, guttural, hasty, hazardous,
high explosive, high-mettled, high-spirited, high-strung,
highly emotional, hot, hot-tempered, hotheaded, iffy, inflammable,
irascible, irritable, jeopardous, knocking, labial, labialization,
labiodental, labiovelar, laryngeal, lateral, lingual, liquid,
manner of articulation, melinite, menacing, mettlesome,
modification, monophthong, morphophoneme, mute, nasal, nasty,
nervous, nitrocotton, nitroglycerin, occlusive, palatal,
parasitic vowel, parlous, passionate, peak, peppery, periculous,
perilous, perturbable, pharyngeal, pharyngealization, phone,
phoneme, plastic, plastic explosive, plosive, popping, powder,
precarious, prickly, prothetic vowel, quick, quick-tempered,
rapping, retroflex, segmental phoneme, semivowel, sensitive,
serious, shaky, short-tempered, skittish, slapping, slatting,
smokeless powder, sonant, sonority, speech sound, spunky,
startlish, stop, surd, syllabic nucleus, syllabic peak, syllable,
tapping, tense, threatening, touch-and-go, touchy,
transition sound, trinitrotoluol, triphthong, ugly, uncertain,
unpredictable, unsound, unstable, velar, villanous saltpetre,
vocable, vocalic, vocoid, voice, voiced sound, voiceless sound,
voicing, volatile, volcanic, vowel
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
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