explosion

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)A violent release of energy (sometimes mechanical, nuclear, or chemical); an act or instance of exploding.

   “A man was injured by an explosion caused by drilling into a missed shot at the Mendota mine above Silver Plume, Colo.”

2. (countable, uncountable)The sound of an explosion.
3. (countable, uncountable)A sudden, uncontrolled or rapid increase, expansion, or bursting out.

   “As with the Lejeuneaceae, this pattern of massive speciation appears to be correlated with the Cretaceous explosion of the angiosperms and the simultaneous creation of a host of new microenvironments, differing in humidity, light intensity, texture, etc.”

   “Meteorologists describe this medieval warm epoch as the ‘Little Optimum’, and they cite it as the explanation of such phenomena as the Viking explosion into Russia, France, Iceland, and the northwestern Atlantic.”

   “Her image is supposedly rebellious, but she looks scrubbed and healthy, with an explosion of blonde hair and generous curves shoved into too-tight clothing.”

   “All this has led to an explosion of protest across China, including among a middle class that has discovered nimbyism. That worries the government, which fears that environmental activism could become the foundation for more general political opposition. It is therefore dealing with pollution in two ways—suppression and mitigation.”