Substances or devices designed to violently burst or detonate, releasing energy in the form of heat, light, and shock waves.
From Latin 'explodere' meaning to drive off the stage by clapping, later meaning to burst. The -ive suffix creates an adjective, and -s makes it plural.
The word 'explode' originally meant to boo someone off a stage in ancient Rome—it literally meant 'to clap off'—and over centuries it evolved to mean any violent bursting, showing how words can transform completely while keeping their roots.
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