Timeline for answer to Difference between "detonate" and "explode" by Lambie
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| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 5, 2023 at 21:29 | comment | added | Lambie | @DarrelHoffman to explode a diagram is "technical", not metaphorical. An exploded view is very common in architectural drawing. But thanks! :) | |
| Jan 5, 2023 at 16:15 | comment | added | Michael Harvey | @DarrelHoffman - You can use 'explode' as a transitive verb with a literal meaning anywhere you can use 'set off' e.g. '23 March 1916, the French exploded a mine of about 10,000 kg of explosives under the German fortifications' | |
| Jan 5, 2023 at 15:58 | comment | added | Darrel Hoffman | The only time I'd find it normal to use "explode" in a transitive sense would be metaphorically, like "I exploded the diagram so the nodes are further apart." Or "I exploded the schematic so you can see all the individual pieces." I suppose you might say "The bomb squad exploded the mysterious package.", but that's the only way I could see that usage applying to a literal explosion. | |
| Jan 5, 2023 at 15:42 | comment | added | Lambie | @MichaelHarvey Yes, fine. Thanks. That was not my point. My point was that fertilizerspike said the sentence came from the OED, and it does not come from the grande dame of dictionaries, only from her bratty offspring. [haha] | |
| Jan 5, 2023 at 15:38 | comment | added | Michael Harvey | @Lambie OED 2nd Ed: 6. a.6.a trans. To cause (a gas, gunpowder, also a magazine, mine, etc.) to ‘go off’ with a loud noise; to ‘blow up’. 1794 Sullivan View Nat. I. 192 In an exhausted receiver‥neither can a bell be heard‥nor gun-powder be exploded. 1807 T. Thomson Chem. (ed. 3) II. 110 When oxygen and hydrogen gas are exploded. 1875 Ure Dict. Arts II. 762 The gun-cotton was exploded under the pressure of a confined space. 1890 Spectator 15 May, On Tuesday night, Lord Randolph Churchill exploded his little mine. | |
| Jan 5, 2023 at 14:33 | comment | added | Lambie | @fertilizerspike That is the Oxford Learners Dictionary online and not the OED, which is the Oxford English Dictionary which is behind a paywall. | |
| Jan 5, 2023 at 4:57 | comment | added | Tim Pederick | @EllieK-Don'tsupporther Forgive me, I was paraphrasing. Your exact words were “poorly written”, “misuse”, and “poor usage”, not “wrong”; and “wordy and sounds weird”, not “objectionable”. I also mistakenly used “rocket”, not “firework”. The comparison should have been, “I [exploded|set off] a firework in my hand.” You stated that the former was “wordy”. I would expect that you feel the same about the latter—unless the issue is really with transitive exploded rather than being wordy? | |
| Jan 4, 2023 at 23:42 | comment | added | JavaLatte | I think you are close to explaining the difference in usage between these two words, but this answer needs dictionary definitions for these words. Also, consider the difference in meaning between transitive and intransitive usages. | |
| Jan 4, 2023 at 22:40 | comment | added | Lambie | The point is that you detonate an explosive, When you do, it explodes. You don't "explode" something in standard English. | |
| Jan 4, 2023 at 21:16 | comment | added | EllieK | @MichaelHarvey - That's why I said in my original post that it's a poorly worded sentence. That's not what is conveyed by I exploded the rocket. You should use some reservation in giving the green light to poorly worded sentences. Just because it can be said, doesn't make it good communication. | |
| Jan 4, 2023 at 21:15 | comment | added | Michael Harvey | @EllieK-Don'tsupporther - whoever fired the rocket caused it to land somewhere and the chain of causation extends to the explosion of the bangy part included in the rocket. | |
| Jan 4, 2023 at 21:12 | comment | added | EllieK | @MichaelHarvey - I should probably clarify. It's not the transitive use of exploded that is weird. It is the expectation that I would understand the usage when the item is not an explosive item. The weirdness can also be seen in a sentence like, I exploded the sweatshirt in my hand. A rocket may explode but a person does not explode it. It explodes when it hits something or when its timer expires. But no one is sitting somewhere with a button labeled EXPLODE!! I exploded the firecracker in my hand is understandable, rocket no. Did it launch, then explode? Is it a bomb? | |
| Jan 4, 2023 at 20:15 | comment | added | Michael Harvey | @EllieK-Don'tsupporther - beware of assuming that something that 'sounds weird' to you personally is automatically wrong, problematical, etc. 'It's in the dictionary' beats 'I haven't heard it'. | |
| Jan 4, 2023 at 16:31 | comment | added | EllieK | @TimPederick - Nothing was called wrong. Nothing was objected to. There is a physical difference between setting off a rocket in your hand and exploding a rocket in your hand. If you had actually set off a rocket in your hand, I would not find your description wordy. If, instead, a rocket had exploded in your hand and you told me you set off a rocket in your hand, I would wonder why you hadn't mentioned the explosion of the rocket. Are you familiar with what a rocket actually is? All rockets fly. That's what makes them rockets. Some rockets explode. | |
| Jan 4, 2023 at 16:14 | comment | added | Tim Pederick | @EllieK-Don'tsupporther Beware of writing off a usage as wrong just because it’s not in your idiom. I wouldn’t use “explode” transitively either, but I would understand it, and I don’t doubt that OED lexicographers are documenting a genuine usage. As for your “in my hand” example, your objection seems to be about the choice of structure rather than word choice. Would you object to I set off a rocket in my hand as wordy, too? | |
| Jan 4, 2023 at 15:24 | comment | added | EllieK | @sepehr - Your exploded rocket example is poorly written, which may be the cause of the confusion. The sentence should read, There was a huge bang as if a rocket had exploded outside. No one exploded the rocket. The rocket, instead, exploded. People are free to misuse the language as they see fit but it's not useful to base assumptions or poor usage. I know it's OED but..... I can say, I exploded a firework in my hand, but that is wordy and sounds weird. Better to say, A firework exploded in my hand. Most will know who lit it. | |
| Jan 4, 2023 at 14:45 | comment | added | Owen Reynolds | @sepehr That sentence is about a frightening thing. Explosion or explode is more emotional. Detonate is a calm more scientific word -- often planned and known in advance. | |
| Jan 4, 2023 at 4:53 | comment | added | Tim Pederick | @sepehr This answer is correct, but it’s a typical rather than universal distinction. You can say “explode a rocket” (= cause an explosion), and equally you can say “the bomb detonated”. But typically I find the words used the way Lambie says. | |
| Jan 3, 2023 at 20:42 | comment | added | sepehr | Thank you. An example from Oxford dictionary: "There was a huge bang as if someone had exploded a rocket outside". So your answer might not be accurate. | |
| Jan 3, 2023 at 20:29 | history | answered | Lambie | CC BY-SA 4.0 |