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detonator

UK/ˈdɛt.ə.neɪ.tə(ɹ)/
nounB2Common in everyday speech and writing · #5,451 of 15,258leans spoken

Other forms: detonators

A detonator is the device that sets off an explosive. Fit the detonator, an electric detonator, the detonator failed.

The main charge in a modern explosive is deliberately hard to set off, which is what makes it safe to handle, so a small sensitive charge is needed to start it — that is the detonator's whole job. It is the most dangerous part to store. Note detonate beneath it.

Unknown · CC BY 2.5

Definitions of detonator

  1. 1noundetonatorThe device that sets off an explosive.B2

    “The bomb squad carefully removed the detonator before moving the device.”

detonator is a device.

Where it comes from

Detonate plus -or, from Latin detonare, to thunder down, from tonare, to thunder.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *(s)tenh₂-

  2. Latin

    dētonātus

  3. French

    détoner

  4. English

    detonate

  5. English, today

    detonator

Built from

  • dētonō · Latin — to thunder down (strongly); (figuratively, of a person) to thunder, speak threateningly, to rage; to stop thundering

From detonate + or. detonate 1729; either French détoner or directly from Latin dētonātus, perfect passive participle of dētonō (“to thunder down (strongly); (figuratively, of a person) to thunder, speak threateningly, to rage; to stop thundering”) (see -ate), from dē- + tonō). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European (s)tenh₂-. The current interlingual meaning seems to be a new formation in postclassical times (to thunder → make a large noise → explode), compare explode.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Word Building

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detonator in the wild

  • The original electric detonators invented in 1875 independently by Julius Smith and Perry Gardiner used mercury fulminate as the primary explosive.

    Detonator

  • By itself, the initiating detonator would not deliver sufficient energy to set off the low-sensitivity charge.

    Explosive booster

  • CH-6 or Composition A-5) or PETN (slightly larger than the actual detonator) into which the detonator itself is inserted.

    Explosive booster

  • The precise timing of exploding wire detonators compared with other types of detonators has led to their common use in nuclear weapons.

    Exploding-bridgewire detonator

  • The slapper detonator is a more recent development along similar lines.

    Exploding-bridgewire detonator

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the dētonō family

detonatordetonate

detonator — used about once every 1,422 pages · #5,451 · point at the bar for the others

  • detonation