explosion

noun

Etymology: From French explosion, from Latin explōsiōnis, genitive form of explōsio, from explōdo (“to drive out by clapping”), from ex- and plōdo (“to clap or strike”). For more information see explode.

1. 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. The sound of an explosion.
3. 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.”