Definition of detonate in English:

verb

• Explode or cause to explode.

  no object ‘two other bombs failed to detonate’

  with object ‘a trigger that can detonate nuclear weapons’

  More example sentences

  • ‘However, I wonder if they are capable of making, assembling and detonating a bomb of that capacity.’
  • ‘Restaurant workers said more than 40 diners were inside when the bomb was detonated.’
  • ‘That accord specifically prohibited countries from detonating nuclear weapons in space.’
  • ‘Security measures to prevent nuclear attacks must be continued, but we cannot rely on efforts to block terrorists from detonating nuclear devices.’
  • ‘Previously it was thought that one car bomb had detonated, but the statement said two devices went off.’
  • ‘The good news, from it standpoint of the Americans is, that means that most of that lethality is wasted if you're detonating a roadside bomb.’
  • ‘He was apparently waiting to be picked up by the general's official car when the first bomb was detonated by remote control.’
  • ‘The ‘boom’ of a bomb being detonated anywhere in the vicinity is also a sound I hope you never hear.’
  • ‘However, no one was injured as one of the petrol bombs detonated inside the porch and another failed to explode.’
  • ‘What if a chemical weapon detonates on a crowded New England dock?’
  • ‘It has spurred India to go ahead publicly detonating nuclear devices.’
  • ‘Rarely has the potential power of hip hop been so convincingly harnessed, with Chuck D's furiously articulate lyrics detonating like bombs.’
  • ‘If it did smash into the Earth the effect would be like detonating thousands of nuclear bombs, killing billions of people and wiping out an area the size of Europe.’
  • ‘They died after a suicide car bomb detonated at their checkpoint south of the capital.’
  • ‘It was not clear whether he planned to detonate the bomb at the checkpoint or had intended to explode it at another target.’
  • ‘There is no gradualness and there are no countermeasures to a dozen nuclear warheads detonating simultaneously in U.S. cities.’
  • ‘Pakistan and India declared themselves nuclear powers after detonating atomic bombs in 1998.’
  • ‘One of the two suspects who detonated the bombs is believed to have died in the explosions and the other is still at large.’
  • ‘He reveals to Dan Jones how he detonated the sparks of controversy.’
  • ‘His task is to detonate a nuclear device in Suffolk, which will somehow scare millions into voting Labour.’

  Synonyms

  explode, go off, be set off, blow up, burst apart, shatter, erupt

  set off, explode, discharge, let off, touch off, trigger

  View synonyms