I.adjectiveCOLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a fiery/violent/explosive temper (=likely to get angry and violent very quickly)
▪ Over the years, my sister has learned to control her fiery temper.
an explosive bullet
▪ An explosive bullet is a very unpleasant weapon.
explosive growth (=very fast growth)
▪ India and China are the developing countries with the most potential for explosive growth.
high explosive
plastic explosive
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
highly
▪ It is difficult to maintain a consistent level of surgical anaesthesia with ether and it is in addition highly explosive.
▪ Each plant handles a range of highly explosive, corrosive and toxic raw materials.
potentially
▪ Such testimony, unheard of in El Salvador, is potentially explosive in a state that has tried to bury its past.
▪ Their presence in the alliance masks deep and potentially explosive differences.
▪ Thus there was a combination of potentially explosive contributory factors.
▪ The most potentially explosive area of contact between headquarters and the Boards was in financial control.
■ NOUN
activity
▪ If the explosive activity is more or less continuous, then clearly ash will rise continuously.
▪ Consequently, on reaching the surface they have a comparatively low residual pressure and explosive activity is very limited.
▪ Next, explosive activity will start, blasting ashy material in jets a couple of hundred metres above sea level.
charge
▪ The tower was attached with bolts that contained small explosive charges.
▪ At one spot the Federals succeeded in undermining the Confederate works in preparation to laying an explosive charge.
▪ Stage separation was achieved by a small explosive charge.
▪ But the bomb casings and high explosive charges in nuclear weapons can not withstand fire and explosive shock.
▪ But the explosive charge was too large and the chapel was so badly damaged that it had to be pulled down.
▪ On the planet, unaware of being watched, Ace was laying explosive charges.
▪ So may explosive charges used to burst the warheads open.
device
▪ A small explosive device used in the booster-separation system failed to fire when Endeavour launched on 30 November last year.
▪ There have been no additional explosive devices found nor any arrests made.
▪ The wheel could have controlled an explosive device.
▪ He said the equipment could be used at checkpoints to search people for explosive devices.
▪ How could this explosive device possibly have been smuggled aboard?
▪ He then turned away and detonated the explosive device strapped to his body.
▪ One of the earliest explosive devices was the petard, which was a mine used to breach castle walls or gates.
▪ They were being held without bail on suspicion of conspiracy, possession of explosive devices and burglary.
growth
▪ Thus began a second period of explosive growth in Lothern.
▪ The second major new development is the explosive growth in money market mutual funds.
▪ Underlying these organisational changes, and more important, was an explosive growth of the whole official information-controlling and opinion-forming effort.
▪ To be sure, the on-line travel industry is still in its infancy, but it appears poised for explosive growth.
▪ It then entered the domestic market to begin the explosive growth towards today's production level of millions of tonnes a year.
▪ Venture capital is investment money pooled together and poured into firms with the potential for rapid, explosive growth.
▪ Billy Butlin became the most successful entrepreneur in this explosive growth.
▪ But the prevailing wisdom in the industry is that the market is doubling each year as the Internet continues its explosive growth.
issue
▪ Despite all this, the election turned into a referendum on two explosive issues.
▪ Henry Hyde, R-Ill., who is platform committee chairman, is still hoping to defuse the explosive issue.
material
▪ It's also your responsibility to strip beds and arrange for the disposal of inflammable or explosive materials.
▪ But agents found a live bomb, a partial bomb and explosive materials, court documents show.
▪ Some speculative future applications of explosive materials in the space programme conclude the scientific presentations.
▪ Traceable tags for explosive material will only be studied, not used.
mixture
▪ He determined that the most explosive mixture of the purified methane and air was in the ratio of 1:8.
▪ The pillars of coal left behind were compressed, releasing large amounts of an explosive mixture of air and methane called firedamp.
▪ His mood was an explosive mixture of maudlin self-pity and forced gaiety, the latter predominating as he got drunker.
power
▪ In the twentieth century alone, tens of megatons of explosive power have been liberated in the atmosphere by cosmic impacts.
▪ Ofahengaue gives All Black Bernie McCahill a taste of the explosive power that has captivated league clubs.
▪ Their explosive power is slightly less than that of an iron of the same size because they are less dense than iron.
▪ He seizes eagerly on opportunities to put the ball away with explosive power.
▪ The twenty kilotons of explosive power poured out upon Hiroshima killed at least seventy thousand people.
situation
▪ The idea was so successful in defusing the explosive situation that the meetings continued to be held at six-monthly intervals.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ a man with an explosive temper
▪ an explosive device
▪ an explosive force of 15,000 tons of TNT
▪ an explosive sound
▪ Overcrowding and lack of jobs in the area have created an explosive situation.
▪ the explosive growth of the computer industry
▪ the explosive issue of abortion
▪ The paper's editors knew they had an explosive story.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ A similar approach has been applied to marine records of explosive eruptions in the Bay of Naples.
▪ And, like her father, it slipped away in one explosive moment.
▪ Doyle's explosive shot starred the side window.
▪ He was to suffer from bouts of explosive flatulence for the rest of his life.
▪ Jamie and Lisa would have been a far more explosive storyline.
▪ Pretty soon that may be an explosive error.
II.nounCOLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
high
▪ These could carry nuclear or conventional high explosives or a variety of runway-cratering sub-munitions.
▪ The Army tried everything-tear gas, smoke, high explosives, bulldozers, and sensors.
▪ The effect, enhanced in buildings and enclosed spaces, can be up to 16 times more destructive than conventional high explosives.
▪ Further along the ridge, Ace was still throwing high explosives.
▪ I think I would take a train into a siding somewhere and load it with high explosive.
▪ Clusters of fire bombs falling from the planes, followed by tons of high explosives.
▪ This tiny rock carries enough kinetic energy to produce an explosion equivalent to several thousand tons of high explosives.
plastic
▪ Semtex is not the only plastic explosive.
▪ Some machines sniff out plastic explosives.
▪ As passed by the House and agreed to by the Senate, the bill allowed only plastic explosives to be tagged.
▪ Inside he found what he took to be plastic explosive, wrapped in cellophane, with a wire protruding from it.
▪ Instructions on how to make plastic explosives are on the Internet and in anti-government underground literature.
▪ Then, we would line the bottom with plastic explosive, about 2 pounds or better.
▪ In 1991, 40 nations gathered in Montreal to develop a plan for better controls and detection of plastic explosives.
▪ As the investigation into these bombings continues, it has reinvigorated efforts to learn more about the black market for plastic explosives.
■ VERB
contain
▪ The bomb, containing 150 grams of explosives, was planted outside the house shortly before 1am.
▪ Helicopters will fly overhead, and police robots will be available to handle suspicious packages that might contain explosives.
▪ The army carried out a controlled explosion on the car but it was found to contain no explosives.
▪ All this is achieved by kinetic energy - the shell contains no explosives.
use
▪ The Oklahoma bomber, after all, used explosives.
▪ An early experiment in 1963 using explosives had not been a success, and in 1981 the geophysicists turned to Vibroseis.
▪ It took us four days in all to bring down the statue, using mines, explosives and even shells.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ A man and a woman were charged on April 15 with conspiracy to cause explosions and with possession of explosives and arms.
▪ Clusters of fire bombs falling from the planes, followed by tons of high explosives.
▪ Collect the explosives, batteries and torch. 20.
▪ He was arrested at his cabin last week on a holding charge of possessing explosives materials.
▪ I think I would take a train into a siding somewhere and load it with high explosive.
▪ Nearby a new chemical industry makes explosives, fertilisers, and nylon fibres.
▪ Such explosives would be far more powerful than existing non-nuclear explosives.
▪ When they searched his vehicle, they found explosives.