detonar

to detonate

verb deh-toh-NAHR Rare

Origin: from Latin detonare, 'to thunder down'

Also means

to go off

Usage Note

Detonar is used both transitively (detonar una bomba, to detonate a bomb) and intransitively (la bomba detonó, the bomb went off). It also appears figuratively: la crisis detonó un debate nacional (the crisis triggered a national debate). The noun detonación (detonation) and detonante (trigger/detonator) share the root.

Examples

"El artificio detonó a medianoche."

Natural Translation

The device went off at midnight.

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