detonate

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

If “One of Us” is an entertaining family saga of privilege and comeuppance, it is also a consummate novel of suspense in which revelations detonate with lethal accuracy.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 13, 2026

Commander Fox explains that mines generally fall into two categories: contact mines, which detonate when struck, and influence mines, which explode when sensors detect changes in sound, pressure or magnetism.

From BBC • Jan. 30, 2026

Proximity fuses are designed to detonate in the air when they are a certain distance from a target, experts say.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 21, 2025

"There was a fake grenade they'd take with them onto target, it couldn't detonate," said a former SAS operator.

From BBC • May 12, 2025

After lowering a torpedo filled with nitroglycerin into the belly of the earth, the muddied workers would detonate it, occasionally turning up a fragment of an ancient American Indian spear or an arrowhead.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann