Timeline for answer to Difference between "detonate" and "explode" by David Siegel
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
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9 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Apr 12, 2025 at 22:00 | comment | added | Snack Exchange | You forgot to say that detonate is transitive while explode isn't. | |
| Jan 28, 2023 at 15:04 | vote | accept | sepehr | ||
| Jan 6, 2023 at 18:45 | comment | added | David Siegel | @uberhaxed One can say, and people do say "John exploded the bomb" althogh not as often as "The bomb explored. But "The bomb disposal team exploded the bomb safely" is a very common usage. | |
| Jan 6, 2023 at 4:28 | comment | added | Tim Pederick | @NuclearHoagie I think there’s room for unplanned detonations, but that doesn’t make what you say untrue. I’d just limit it to sentences in active voice and with a person (or other entity able to show intent) as the subject: “John detonated the bomb,” “We will detonate it at midday,” versus “The bomb was detonated prematurely,” “Heat caused the fertiliser to detonate.” | |
| Jan 5, 2023 at 21:31 | comment | added | uberhaxed | This is the correct answer, and I would also add there is a grammatical different. Detonate is an active verb while explode is passive. You can say "John detonated the bomb." But not "John exploded the bomb". Likewise, you can say "the bomb was detonated" but not "the bomb was exploded". Minor exception is that detonate can also be used passively. E.g. "The bomb exploded." And "the bomb detonated". But the reverse is not true: "Tell John to detonate the bomb." Is correct while, "tell John to explode the bomb" is not. | |
| Jan 5, 2023 at 19:44 | comment | added | Nuclear Hoagie | I like that this answer mentions the intentionality of detonation, which is missed in the other top answers. A person smoking at a gas pump may directly cause an explosion, for example, but I wouldn't typically call an accidental or unexpected explosion a detonation. A detonation to me suggests that the explosion was planned, intentional, or controlled in some way. | |
| S Jan 5, 2023 at 5:16 | history | suggested | Skye-AT | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
fixed typo that I could spot
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| Jan 5, 2023 at 2:39 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| S Jan 5, 2023 at 5:16 | |||||
| Jan 5, 2023 at 2:29 | history | answered | David Siegel | CC BY-SA 4.0 |