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Glite Dictionary
ANFO

ANFO

5 7.4
An explosive made by mixing a common fertilizer with fuel oil and used in mining and destroying buildings
  • noun
  • Specialized
: ANFO
  • The construction crew carefully loaded ANFO into the drilling holes to ensure a controlled explosion.
  • pounds of ANFO
  • ANFO bomb
  • 50 pounds of ANFO

Examples

  • - The guy distilled the ANFO himself.

    Blown Away (1994)

  • Between the river and the rain, if ANFO was used, the only place you'd find it would be...

    Déjà Vu (2006)

  • Then I typed "ANFO bomb recipe" and learned how to duplicate the Oklahoma City bombing.

    Blog text (19)

  • ANFO.

    Déjà Vu (2006)

  • ANFO?

    Déjà Vu (2006)

  • Using ANFO, they were able to blast through the rock and clear the site for the new building.

  • To enhance efficiency in their mining operation, they decided to order several tons of ANFO for their next project.

Synonyms

ammonium nitrate/fuel oil
vsANFO
  • Specialized
5.4

A strong explosive used to break rock in mining and construction

is the abbreviated technical label used instead of the full name

Surface Forms

ANFO singular
ANFOs plural

Morphology

ANFO = A + N + F + O

ANFO is an initialism (letters stand for technical chemical terms); the letter components do not allow an average B1 learner to derive the meaning.

Etymology

The word ANFO comes from the first letters of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil, the two ingredients used to make it. So ANFO is simply the name for this industrial explosive made by mixing a 'fertilizer' and a 'fuel'.