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dynamite

Pronunciation: /ˈdʌɪnəmʌɪt/

The English word “dynamite” has 8 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A class of explosives made from nitroglycerine in an absorbent medium such as kieselguhr, used in mining and blasting.
  2. A stick of trinitrotoluene (TNT).
  3. Anything exceptionally dangerous, exciting or wonderful.
  4. A strong drug, in particular heroin, cocaine or potent marijuana.

verb

  1. To blow up with dynamite or other high explosive.
  2. To dismantle or destroy.
  3. To apply maximum pressure to very quickly.
  4. To lock up from being invoked too suddenly.

Etymology

Coined by Alfred Nobel in 1867. Ultimately from Ancient Greek δύναμις (dúnamis, “power”) + -ite, most likely under the influence of dynamo or dynamic.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.