dynamite

/ˌdaɪnəˈmaɪt/

/ˈdaɪnəmaɪt/

Other forms: dynamited; dynamiting; dynamites

Dynamite is a material that explodes when it's detonated. Dynamite has long been used in mining, for blasting open layers of rock. Dynamite is not the kind of thing you buy at the corner hardware store.

Dynamite was invented in 1867 by Alfred Nobel, a Swedish inventor, chemist, and engineer. Builders and miners were happy about the new explosive, since dynamite was stronger and safer than those that came before it. Nobel named his invention dynamit, a Swedish version of the Greek dynamis, "power." The earliest figurative meaning was "dangerous," but in the 1960s it came to also mean "excellent" or "impressive."

Definitions of dynamite

1. noun

   an explosive containing nitrate sensitized with nitroglycerin absorbed on wood pulp
   types:

   gelignite, gelly

   a type of dynamite in which the nitroglycerin is absorbed in a base of wood pulp and sodium or potassium nitrate

   type of:

   explosive compound

   a compound that is explosive
2. verb

   blow up with dynamite
   “The rock was dynamited”

   type of:

   blow up, detonate, explode, set off

   cause to burst with a violent release of energy