dynamite

See also: dynamité

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdaɪ.nəˌmaɪt/
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /ˈdɪ.nəˌmaɪt/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

dynamite (usually uncountable, plural dynamites)

1. A class of explosives made from nitroglycerine in an absorbent medium such as kieselguhr, used in mining and blasting.
2. (informal, proscribed) A stick of trinitrotoluene (TNT).
3. (figuratively, slang, uncountable) Anything exceptionally dangerous, exciting or wonderful.
   • 1977 April 30, Steve Sasville, “To Clothe Or Not...”, in Gay Community News, page 6:

     Even though sometimes I take differing views from some articles and letters in GCN, I think it's a dynamite piece of work. Good luck and thanks again.

   • 2005, Alex Turner (lyrics and music), “I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor”, performed by Arctic Monkeys:

     And your shoulders are frozen (Cold as the night) / Oh, but you're an explosion (You're dynamite)

   • 2016, Kit Moulton, Annabella, page 108:

     That girl was dynamite. Dark hair with killer blue eyes, bronze skin, and an exquisite full-figured body.
     He warned us: "That issue about what's been happening at that factory, is political dynamite. Keep the lid on it."

4. (slang) A strong drug, in particular heroin, cocaine or potent marijuana.

Synonyms

• nitro

Derived terms

• boom goes the dynamite
• dynamite charge
• dynamite roll
• dynamite tree
• dynamitic
• dynamitish
• dynamitism
• dynamitist
• predynamite

 

Translations

class of explosives

• Afrikaans: dinamiet
• Albanian: dinamit (sq) m
• Arabic: دِينَامِيت m (dinamit)
• Armenian: ուժանակ (hy) (užanak)
• Asturian: dinamita f
• Azerbaijani: dinamit
• Basque: dinamita (eu)
• Belarusian: дынамі́т m (dynamít)
• Bulgarian: динами́т m (dinamít)
• Catalan: dinamita f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 炸藥／炸药 (zh) (zhàyào)

• Czech: dynamit (cs) n
• Danish: dynamit c
• Dutch: dynamiet (nl) n
• Esperanto: dinamito
• Estonian: dünamiit (et)
• Finnish: dynamiitti (fi)
• French: dynamite (fr) f
• Galician: dinamita f
• Georgian: დინამიტი (dinamiṭi)
• German: Dynamit (de) n
• Hebrew: דִינָמִיט (he) m (dinamit)
• Hindi: बारूद (hi) f (bārūd), बारूत (hi) f (bārūt)
• Hungarian: dinamit (hu)
• Icelandic: dýnamít
• Ido: dinamito (io)
• Ilocano: dinamita
• Irish: dinimít f
• Italian: dinamite (it) f
• Japanese: ダイナマイト (ja) (dainamaito)
• Korean: 다이너마이트 (daineomaiteu)
• Lao: ດິນລະເບີດ (din la bœ̄t)
• Latvian: dinamīts f
• Lithuanian: dinamitas f
• Macedonian: динамит m (dinamit)
• Malay: dinamit
• Maori: tainamaiti
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: dynamitt m

  Nynorsk: dynamitt m

• Occitan: dinamita (oc) f
• Persian: دینامیت (fa) (dinâmit)
• Polish: dynamit (pl) m
• Portuguese: dinamite (pt) f
• Romanian: dinamită (ro)
• Russian: динами́т (ru) m (dinamít)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: динамит m

  Roman: dinamit (sh) m

• Spanish: dinamita (es) f
• Swahili: baruti
• Swedish: dynamit (sv) n
• Tagalog: dinamita
• Tamil: டைனமைட் (ṭaiṉamaiṭ)
• Telugu: డైనమైటు (ḍainamaiṭu)
• Turkish: dinamit (tr)
• Ukrainian: динамі́т (uk) m (dynamít)
• Urdu: باروت f (bārūt), بارود f (bārūd)
• Vietnamese: mìn (vi), đinamit
• Welsh: deinameit f
• Yiddish: דיינאַמייט f (deynameyt)

stick of trinitrotoluene

• Polish: laska dynamitu f
• Portuguese: banana de dinamite f (Brazil)
• Swedish: dynamitpatron c, dynamitgubbe c

figuratively

• German: Sprengstoff (de) m

Verb

dynamite (third-person singular simple present dynamites, present participle dynamiting, simple past and past participle dynamited)

1. To blow up with dynamite or other high explosive.
   • 1960 February, R. C. Riley, “The London-Birmingham services - Past, Present and Future”, in Trains Illustrated, page 101:

     [...] on Sunday, August 23, the L.N.W.R. tunnel was closed to enable the old brickwork to be dynamited away, traffic being diverted meanwhile through the M.R. tunnel.

2. (figuratively) To dismantle or destroy.
   • 2021 July 29, Harry Litman, “Column: Mississippi’s abortion brief dynamites standing law and ‘super duper’ precedents”, in The Los Angeles Times:

     Even the successful battle in the last century to overturn the court’s infamous Plessy vs. Ferguson “separate but equal” doctrine wasn’t a frontal assault that dynamited precedent.

3. (transitive, of brakes) To apply maximum pressure to very quickly.

   dynamite the brakes

   • 2009, Claude M. Pearson, Portia Rising, page 50:

     Juan dynamited the brakes and the car skidded to a halt.

   • 2014, Mike Davis, Hunting Men: The Career of an Oregon State Police Detective, page 6:

     The 1977 Pontiacs had a tendency of dying if you were at high speed and dynamited the brakes.

   • 2018, Laird Barron, Blood Standard:

     At the critical moment I'd learned from countless action flicks I dynamited the brakes and felt the impact of the sedan against my rear bumper.

4. (intransitive, of brakes) To lock up from being invoked too suddenly.

   the brakes will dynamite

Derived terms

• dynamiter
• undynamited

Translations

to blow up with dynamite or other high explosive

• Asturian: dinamitar
• Catalan: dinamitar (ca)
• Danish: demolere
• Dutch: dynamiteren (nl)
• Finnish: räjäyttää dynamiitilla
• French: dynamiter (fr)
• Galician: dinamitar
• Ido: dinamitagar (io)
• Irish: réab le dinimít
• Maori: tainamaiti
• Portuguese: dinamitar
• Spanish: dinamitar (es)

See also

• cordite

Further reading

• “dynamite n.²”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /di.na.mit/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: dynamitent, dynamites

Verb

dynamite

1. inflection of dynamiter:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative