v.
- burst or shatter violently, especially as a result of rapid combustion or excessive internal pressure.
- suddenly express strong emotion, especially anger.
- increase suddenly in number or extent.
- show (a belief or theory) to be false or unfounded.
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[as adj. exploded]
(of a diagram) showing the components of a mechanism in the normal relative positions but slightly separated from each other.
Derivative
Etymology
C16 (in the sense ‘reject scornfully’): from L. explodere ‘drive out by clapping, hiss off the stage’, from ex- ‘out’ + plaudere ‘to clap’.