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Definition of explosive adjective from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

explosive

adjective
 
/ɪkˈspləʊsɪv/,
 
/ɪkˈspləʊzɪv/
 
/ɪkˈspləʊsɪv/,
 
/ɪkˈspləʊzɪv/
Word Family
  • explode verb
  • explosion noun
  • explosive adjective noun
  • unexploded adjective
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  1. easily able or likely to explode
    • an explosive device (= a bomb)
    • an explosive mixture of chemicals
    • Hydrogen is highly explosive.
    Topics War and conflictc1
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs
    • be
    adverb
    • highly
    See full entry
  2. likely to cause violence or strong feelings of anger or hate
    • one of the most explosive issues of our time
    • The political situation is potentially explosive.
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs
    • be
    • become
    adverb
    • extremely
    • fairly
    • very
    See full entry
  3. often having sudden violent or angry feelings
    • an explosive temper
    Topics Feelingsc2
  4. increasing suddenly and rapidly
    • the explosive growth of the export market
  5. (of a sound) sudden and loud
    • There was an explosive crash and then everything fell silent.
See explosive in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee explosive in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English
previously
adverb
 
 
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