English Explanatory Dictionary

dynamite

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A class of explosives made from nitroglycerine in an absorbent medium such as kieselguhr, used in mining and blasting.
  2. A stick of trinitrotoluene (TNT).
  3. Anything exceptionally dangerous, exciting or wonderful.
  4. A strong drug, in particular heroin, cocaine or potent marijuana.
verb
  1. To blow up with dynamite or other high explosive.
  2. To dismantle or destroy.
  3. To apply maximum pressure to very quickly.
  4. To lock up from being invoked too suddenly.
name
  1. A sub-sitio in the sitio of Hilltop, barangay of Ambuclao, Bokod, Benguet, Philippines.

Pronunciation

/ˈdʌɪnəmʌɪt/ /ˈdaɪ.nəˌmaɪt/ /ˈdɪ.nəˌmaɪt/ En-au-dynamite.ogg

Word forms

dynamite dynamites dynamiting dynamited

Etymology

Coined by Alfred Nobel in 1867. Ultimately from Ancient Greek δύναμις (dúnamis, “power”) + -ite, most likely under the influence of dynamo or dynamic.

Synonyms

TNT

Related words

blasting cap cordite demolition detonate

Derived words

boom goes the dynamite dynamite charge dynamite roll dynamite tree dynamitic dynamitish dynamitism dynamitist predynamite dynamiter undynamited
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on D Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary