airburst
1
8.3
- noun
- /ˈɛrˌbɜrst/
- Specialized
:
explosión aérea
- The explosion occurred as an airburst, causing widespread damage above the ground instead of on impact.
Examples
-
Assuming only 10 canisters, an airburst over Washington, we could expect between 50,000 and 100,000 deaths.
Fiction book (1996) -
Thirty megaton nuclear device... ...fused for airburst at 10, 000 feet.
-
"This rain of airbursts," said Martin.
Fiction book (1994) -
It happens instantly when a nuke is airburst.
Fiction book (1996) -
The sites of previous impacts are also visible to the right of Fragment K's airburst.
Academic text (1994) -
That's what he calls the nightmare scenario: mass gas attacks, a rain of airbursts over all our troops.
Fiction book (1994) -
In Life magazine, it's called an airburst, and if the bomb is 50 megatons... the blast wave goes out and out and out... and melts everything from here to here.
-
A nuclear airburst wipes out every record of every kind in every computer east of the Rockies, and you want me to find some woman you met when you were seven, whose last name you don't even know...
Fiction book (2000) -
Oh, close enough to the source of the explosion to be assured of being sucked into the wormhole, which I figure is about here if we detonate for an airburst of about a thousand metres.
-
During an airburst, the shrapnel from the explosion rained down on the area, impacting buildings and trees.
Synonyms
∞
2.8
A sudden violent burst that makes a loud noise and causes damage
85
6.7
A sudden violent explosion from a chemical or nuclear reaction
37
3.3
A sudden strong movement of air that pushes things
9
2.5
A sudden explosion from a bomb
1
6.0
A sudden violent explosion that destroys things nearby
A very sudden powerful blast that breaks things and makes loud noise
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
The word airburst combines air ('the sky' or 'above the ground') and burst ('to break open' or 'explode'). So an airburst is an explosion that happens in the air above the ground rather than on impact.