n.
Pronunciation: ik- ' spl ō -zh ə n
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin explosion-, explosio act of driving off by clapping, from explodere
Date: 1667
1 : the act or an instance of exploding <injured in a laboratory explosion >
2 : a large-scale, rapid, or spectacular expansion or bursting out or forth <the explosion of suburbia> <an explosion of red hair>
3 : the release of occluded breath that occurs in one kind of articulation of stop consonants