implosion

Etymology

It is formed from English in- + -plosion, with the ending of explosion;^{[2][3][4][5][6]} the prefix is the one meaning "into, in, on",^[3] assimilated before p.^[3][7] The OED and the Shorter Oxford treat it as the noun of action of implode, after explosion,^[7][8][9] but Etymonline takes the verb as a back-formation from implosion.^[3] The OED derives implode from the same prefix and Latin plōdere, plaudere (“to clap”), after explode.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A collapse inward, coined in a passage of the Westminster Review of October 1829 about burning hydrogen and oxygen, whose product, water, takes up less room than the gases: the writer called the result "an implosion (to coin a word), not an explosion".^[3] The OED's first record of the general sense, the bursting inward of a vessel under pressure from outside, is from 1880.^[7]

Semantic evolution

In early use the word often referred to the effect of deep-sea pressure.^[3] From 1877, in Henry Sweet's Handbook of Phonetics, it was also a term of phonetics for the sucking in of breath in some consonants.^[7][3][4] Implosion was also used of the inward collapse of a star's core.^[8] The figurative sense, the opposite of a figurative explosion, is recorded from 1960, in J. G. Ballard;^[7][3] it covers the sudden collapse of an organization or system and a reduction as if by pressure from outside, as in population implosion,^[4][10] and also a drawing together towards a centre, an integration.^[4][10]

Timeline

• 1829 – a bursting or collapse inward, a word coined in the Westminster Review.^[3] The OED's first record of the sense is from 1880.^[7]
• 1877 – in phonetics, the drawing in of breath in pronouncing some consonants.^[7][4]
• 1960 – figurative, as the opposite of an explosion.^[7][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A violent collapse inward, as of a vessel under outside pressure: the implosion of a vacuum tube.^[11][4][7]
2. A sudden inward collapse or breakdown of an organization or system, or a reduction as if by outside pressure: the implosion of the old party structure.^[4][8]
3. A drawing together towards a centre; integration.^[4][10]
4. (phonetics) The inrush or intake of air in forming certain consonants, such as suction stops.^{[11][4][8][7]}

Word family

• implosive
• implode

Related words

• explosion
• explode

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ a b c Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins