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blowup

blowup

7 6.1
A sudden angry outburst showing strong emotion
  • noun
  • /ˈbloʊˌʌp/
  • Informal
translation icon : explosión
  • They had a blowup.
  • a big blowup
  • sorry about the blowup
  • a huge blowup

Examples

  • I'm sorry about my blowup.

  • Yeah, they had a blowup.

  • There wasn't a big blowup or anything.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • I don't want a blowup between him and Mickey.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • The night of the blowup, Eloise had come home ranting about her job.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • Harry doesn't drink anymore, of course, not since the big blowup twenty years ago—damn, he almost lost everything then: his job, Edna, the house.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • After the blowup in the office, many of the employees felt the tension in the air.

  • Her sudden blowup during the meeting surprised everyone who attended.

  • He apologized for his blowup after realizing how it affected his friends.

Synonyms

outburst
vsblowup
83 3.9

A sudden strong show of feeling like anger or laughter

is more uncontrolled and often specifically angry
burst
vsblowup
57 3.5

A short, strong period of activity or feeling

is less about brief spikes and more about uncontrolled anger
explosion
vsblowup
44 3.0

A sudden strong burst of emotion or noise

is focused on uncontrolled anger rather than noise or general activity
flare-up
vsblowup
11 6.0

A sudden increase in violence, anger, or symptoms

is more about uncontrolled emotional anger than any undesirable event
flare
vsblowup
5 5.3

A sudden strong feeling such as anger or excitement

is more uncontrolled and often angry rather than just intense
9.1

A sudden very angry reaction that people show loudly or violently

is less extreme but still uncontrolled anger
ebullition
vsblowup
  • Formal
9.9

A sudden strong show of feeling, for example loud joy or anger

is the common everyday term for uncontrolled angry reaction
5.8

A short sudden moment when someone becomes very angry because things go wrong

is broader and not limited to frustration as cause

Antonyms

38 5.1

Calm control of your feelings and actions in a difficult situation

9 2.7

A state without strong feelings or worry in your mind

How Angry

meltdown
95 5.8
tantrum
85 2.7
blowup
  • Informal
7 6.1
argument
617 2.3
to tiff
  • Informal
6.8

Surface Forms

blowup singular
blowups plural

Morphology

blowup = blow (semi-transparent) = up + blow

While the components 'blow' and 'up' are clear, the specific meaning of an emotional outburst is not directly derivable from the components. [Postprocessing: moved 'up' from base_words to prefix]

Etymology

Blowup comes from the phrase blow + up, where blow means 'a sudden burst' and up makes that burst stronger; think of pressure building until it finally breaks. So a blowup is a sudden, uncontrolled outburst of anger.