Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definitions: Explosion |
ExplosionNoun1. A violent release of energy caused by a chemical or nuclear reaction. 2. The act of exploding or bursting something; "the explosion of the firecrackers awoke the children"; "the burst of an atom bomb creates enormous radiation aloft". 3. The terminal forced release of pressure built up during the occlusive phase of a stop consonant. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "explosion" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1748. (references) |
Etymology: Explosion \Ex*plo"sion\, noun. [Latin expression explosio driving off by clapping: compare to the French expression explosion explosion. See Explode.]. (Websters 1913) |
| Domain | Definitions |
19th Century Satire | A good chance to begin at the bottom and work up. Source: Foolish Dictionary, 1904. |
Aerospace | 1. The sudden production of a large quantity of gas, usually hot, from a much smaller amount of a gas, liquid, or solid. 2. Specifically, an explosion, sense 1, produced by combustion of a fuel and an oxidizer.The distinction between an explosion, sense 2. and a detonation is that in an explosion the heat release rate and the number of molecules per unit volume increase with time more or less uniformly, whereas a detonation is propagated by an advancing shock front behind which exothermic reactions take place and thus is (spatially) nonuniform. (references) |
Dream Interpretation | To dream of explosions, portends that disapproving actions of those connected with you will cause you transient displeasure and loss, and that business will also displease you. To think your face, or the face of others, is blackened or mutilated, signifies you will be accused of indiscretion which will be unjust, though circumstances may convict you. To see the air filled with smoke and de'bris, denotes unusual dissatisfaction in business circles and much social antagonism. To think you are enveloped in the flames, or are up in the air where you have been blown by an explosion, foretells that unworthy friends will infringe on your rights and will abuse your confidence. Young women should be careful of associates of the opposite sex after a dream of this character. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted .... |
Public Administration | The sudden expansion of gas due to a rapid decomposition or oxidation reaction, usually accompanied by a loud sound. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: ExplosionSynonyms: burst (n), detonation (n), plosion (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Excitability | Passion, excitement, flush, heat; fever, heat; fire, flame, fume, blood boiling; tumult; effervescence, ebullition; boiling over; whiff, gust, story, tempest; scene, breaking out, burst, fit, paroxysm, explosion; outbreak, outburst; agony. |
Failure | Mishap; (misfortune); split, collapse, smash, blow, explosion. |
Impulse | Noun: impulse, impulsion, impetus; momentum; push, pulsion, thrust, shove, jog, jolt, brunt, booming, boost, throw; explosion; (violence); propulsion. |
Resentment | Burst, explosion, paroxysm, storm, rage, fury, desperation; violence; fire and fury; vials of wrath; gnashing of teeth, hot blood, high words. |
Revolution | Jump, leap, plunge, jerk, start, transilience; explosion; spasm, convulsion, throe, revulsion; storm, earthquake, cataclysm. |
Violence | Outbreak, outburst; debacle; burst, bounce, dissilience, discharge, volley, explosion, blow up, blast, detonation, rush, eruption, displosion, torrent. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | They caused an explosion! (Ghostbusters; writing credit: Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis.) It looks like an explosion at the old Simpson place. (The Simpsons; writing credit: Artur Brauner; Paul Hengge) Then why does it say the explosion was so great it shattered windows in a building 10 blocks away? (The Golden Girls; writing credit: Philip Broadley; Gabriel Castro) Hibb hibbdy Maybe I did die in the explosion, you know. (The Adventures of Ford Fairlane; writing credit: Rex Weiner; James Cappe) We may go in the biggest explosion in those parts since the last star exploded, but we've got to take that one in ten thousand chance! (Star Trek; writing credit: Walter Black; William Hamilton) | |
Movie/TV Titles | L' Explosion (1971) 23/69: Underground Explosion (1969) Explosion (1969) Population Explosion (1968) Park Avenue Explosion (1902) | |
Song Titles | Little Bit of Soul (performing artist: The Music Explosion) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books | |||
Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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High Tech |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | MA-1 Capsule Reassembled After Explosion.Credit: NASA. |  | The highest velocity material expelled in a cataclysmic, stellar explosion 10 years ago has ...Credit: NASA. |
 | The visible fireball from a titanic explosion in deep space, called a gamma-ray burst, blazes ...Credit: NASA. |  | Planting a hydrophone anchor with the cable attached On the GUIDE Hydrophone would pick up sound from RAR TNT explosion.Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. |
 | Why the rock was being strained 1/2 scale explosion at Dugway Proving Ground.Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. |  | GOES G ends in a fiery explosion as the Cape Canaveral Range Safety Officer destroys Delta Launch Vehicle 178 after 91 seconds.Credit: NOAA in Space. |
 | U.S. American National Red Cross Hospital No.1, Paris, France. : American soldier wounded in minor explosion.Credit: National Library of Medicine. |  | Salvage and rescue work underway on USS Mindanao (ARG-3) shortly after Mount Hood blew up about 350 yards away. Note heavy damage to Mindanao's hull and superstructure, including large holes from fragment impacts. View looks forward from alongside her port quarter. USS Mindanao had 180 crewmen killed and injured by this explosion. She was under repair until 21 December 1944. Small craft alongside or nearby include (from left) YPB-6 (probable identification), two LCVPs and YPB-7.Credit: NAVY. |
 | Ship's after "superposed" 12"/40 and 8"/45 gun turret, where an explosion in the 8" (upper) level on 15 July 1907 took the lives of ten crewmen. The photograph was probably taken during the months following the accident.Credit: NAVY. |  | Explosion of Biddle & Cos. Congress water fount.Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Play | Caption | Play | Caption |
 | Explosion in the water. | | Plasma explosion. |
| Explosion caused by dynamite. | ||
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | Inexhaustible in grape, they kept up an explosion in the midst of their assailants. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | The explosion of knowledge about human genetics is helping scientists who work in the field of drug development. (references) | |
Very loud sounds of short duration, such as an explosion or gunfire, can produce immediate, severe, and permanent loss of hearing. (references) | ||
The growing individual and societal awareness and open acknowledgment of the problem have led to increased interest and resultant explosion of knowledge in each of these areas. (references) | ||
Business | A good example is the mobile (cellular) telephone explosion. (references) | |
The trends in carpets have, in the last few years, made an explosion in texture, styling and colorization. (references) | ||
Electrical equipment is used where explosion hazard or health considerations do not allow the use of internal combustion engines. (references) | ||
Civil Liberties | Turkey | In July security forces forcibly evacuated two villages in Sirnak province following a landmine explosion which killed one soldier and wounded another. (references) |
Zimbabwe | Several days before the explosion, Minister Moyo told Sandra Nyaira, a political reporter for the Daily News, that "The Daily News is not going to survive as long as I am alive. (references) | |
India | Pradeep Bhatia, a photographer for the national daily The Hundustan Times, was killed in Srinagar on August 10 in a bombing explosion carried out by the Kashmiri group Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. (references) | |
Economic History | Saudi Arabia | On May 2, 2001, an American doctor in Dammam was seriously injured in a letter bomb explosion. (references) |
Jamaica | However, the explosion in all-inclusive hotels has been shifting the demand in favor of less expensive Chilean wines. (references) | |
Australia | Internet growth in Australia has created an explosion of providers for this service, with around 700 ISPs active in the Australian market. (references) | |
Human Rights | Afghanistan | The perpetrators also were killed in the explosion. (references) |
Somalia | On May 10, a landmine explosion near Ballidogle airstrip killed a man. (references) | |
Burundi | On March 9, a landmine explosion killed a child in Kabizi commune, Makamba province. (references) | |
Minorities | Bosnia and Herzegovina | On January 16, in Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia, an explosion destroyed the car of a Bosniak returnee, damaging a nearby vehicle and shattering several windows. (references) |
Political Rights | Bosnia and Herzegovina | The SDP party office in Vitez suffered extensive damage in a bomb explosion on May 1; police arrested a Croat man in the attack, which police believe was motivated by the HDZ's self-government drive. (references) |
Trade | Singapore | The Consumer Protection Act (CPA) mark is a compulsory stamp of approval given by the PSB to ensure that consumers are safe from hazards such as fire, explosion and electrical shock when using these appliances. (references) |
Worker Rights | South Africa | On May 8, 12 persons were killed by an explosion in a gold mine. (references) |
China | Local residents credibly claimed that fireworks, assembled by pupils in the school, caused the explosion. (references) | |
China | In March an explosion at an elementary school in Jiangxi Province killed 42 persons, most of them school children. (references) | |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | PERORATION, n. The explosion of an oratorical rocket. It dazzles, but to an observer having the wrong kind of nose its most conspicuous peculiarity is the smell of the several kinds of powder used in preparing it. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
William Shatner | That's right. It looked like every special effects shots of an explosion that I had ever seen. It was too cliched to be real. And it was incomprehensible. And then a second plane. That made it a little more comprehensible. It was tragedy beyond speaking. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
John F. Kennedy | 1961-1963 | The Atlantic Community grows, not like a volcanic mountain, by one mighty explosion, but like a coral reef, from the accumulating activity of all. |
Lyndon B. Johnson | 1963-1969 | I will seek new ways to use our knowledge to help deal with the explosion in world population and the growing scarcity in world resources. |
Gerald Ford | 1974-1977 | But today it is threatened by a shortage of qualified Federal judges and an explosion of litigation claiming Federal jurisdiction. |
Ronald Reagan | 1981-1989 | Despite the imminent explosion of the burning aircraft, he never hesitated. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Explosion" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 99.94% of the time. "Explosion" is used about 1,651 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 99.94% | 1,650 | 5,058 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.06% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 1,651 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "explosion": atomic explosion ♦ causing an explosion ♦ cloud resulting from explosion ♦ combinatorial explosion ♦ confined explosion ♦ danger od explosion ♦ delayed explosion ♦ explosion of gunpowder ♦ nuclear explosion ♦ phreatic explosion ♦ population explosion ♦ premature explosion. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "explosion": explosion-clouds, explosion-proof, explosion-the. | |
Ending with "explosion": dust-explosion. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "explosion"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Afrikaan | ontploffing. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | shpërthyes (detonating, eruptive, explosive, hair-trigger, plosive, volatile, volcanic), shpërthim (access, blast, blowout, burst, conniption, detonation, effusion, eruption, fit, flare, flare up, furor, gush, gust, outbreak, outburst, output, paroxysm, report, Sally, tornado). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | فرقعة (bang, crack, crackle, crackling, crepitation, exploding, pop, report, snap), تفجير (burst, detonation), تفرقع (explode), انفجار (eruption), إنفجار (blast, blaze, burst, detonation, fit, flare, outbreak, outburst, outcrop, puff and blow, report, salvo, shout). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | взрив (blast, burst, detonation, outburst, puff, report), експлозия (blowup, fulmination), избухване (belch, burst, detonation, eruption, flying, outbreak, outburst, puff), детонация (detonation). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 爆炸 (to blow up, to detonate, to explode). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | exploze, výbuch (blast, blaze, burst, detonation, eruption, gush, gust, outbreak, outburst, paroxysm, salvo). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | eksplosion (blast, burst). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | ontploffing (detonation), explosie, uitbarsting (burst, outbreak, outburst, shower). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | eksplodo. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | هیاهو (Commotion, Hubbub, Ruckus), سروصدا (Clamor, Jazz, Noise, Racket, Romp, Ruction), انفجار (Blast, Blowout, Blowup, Burst, Bust, Eruption, Gust, Outburst, Pop), بیرون ریزی (Outflow). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | räjähdys (blast, détonation, detonation). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | Explosion (causing an explosion, Expln.). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Frisian | ûntploffing. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Explosion (blast, blow-up, burst, detonation, fulmination). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | έκρηξη (blast, blasting, blow out, blow up, blowing, breaking, burst, detonation, eruption, implosion, outbreak, outburst, shot, splitting). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | פצוץ (blast, burst, bust, detonation), "תפוצצות (burst, detonation, exploding, fulmination), ברו" (gunpowder), פץ (burst, crepitation). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | robbanás (blast, blowup, burst, bursting, detonation, fulmination), kitörés (break out, break-out, burst, bursting, ejaculation, eruption, extrusion, flaw, gust, lunge, outbreak, outburst, paroxysm, sally, shooting, shy, sortie, spirt, tantrum), kirobbanás (burst, outbreak, outburst), felrobbanás (bursting), detonáció (detonation). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | letupan, ledakan (blowup, burst, outburst), gerantam. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | esplosione (bang, blast, blowing, burst, causing an explosion, crack, eruption, outbreak, outburst, raptures, shower), scoppio (access, bang, blast, breaking, burst, crack, crash, gale, outbreak, outburst, peal, pop). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 爆発 (detonation, eruption), 裂 (break off, rupture). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | きゅうぞう (hurried construction, one's old possessions, proliferation, surge), さくれつ, ばくはつ (detonation, eruption), ばくは (blast, blow up), エクスプロージョン , はれつ (break off, rupture). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 폭발 (Exploding, Exposition, Outburst). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | polt (bang, blast, blast explosion, clap, concussion, crack, crack sound, detonation, flap, rap, report, shot, snap, stroke, thump). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Norwegian | eksplosjon. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Papiamen | eksploshon. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | explosionay explosão (backfire, blast, blow up, blow-up, burst, bursting, bust, detonation, discharge, eruptive, outbreak, outburst, upsurge). (various references) explozie (blast, blaze, burst, bursting, detonation, outbreak, round, shot, spirt, tornado), izbucnire (agony, blaze, burst, eruption, fit, fume, inrush, onset, outbreak, outburst, paroxysm, passion, start). (various references) взрыв (agony, bang, blast, blowup, burst, detonation, eruption, gale, gust, outbreak, outburst, outbust, plosion, spurt). (various references) bragh (an explosion, burst, peal). (various references) eksplozija (blast, blowout, blowup, burst, detonation, fulmination, outburst), detonacija (detonation, report). (various references) explosión (backfire, bang, blast, blasting, blowoff, blowup, burst, outburst, plosion, report). (various references) explosion (blast, burst, detonation, fulmination, plosion). (various references) tepesi atma (being furious, blowup), patlama (bang, blow out, blowup, boom, burst, burst up, crack, detonating, detonation, eruption, fireworks, fulminating, fulmination, outburst, plosion, puncture, simmer), parlama (deflagrate, deflagration, flare, flare up, flash, glaze, irradiance, shining, sparkle, sparkling), kudurma (blow out, frenzy, furor, furore, rage, rampancy), infilak (blowup, burst, burst up, detonation, fulmination), ateş alma, artış (accrual, addition, advance, augmentation, climbing, enhancement, increase, increment, jump, raise, rise, rising, step up, up). (various references) partlama, яarylma. (various references) спалах (blaze, burst, deflagration, flare, flare up, flash, glint, outleap, rage, spark), вибух (bang, blast, blow up, blowing up, burst, bursting, detonation, howl, hurricane, outbreak, outleap, storm, tornado), бурхливе зростання. (various references) sự nổ (blowing-up, buoyancy). (various references) tanchwa (firedamp), ffrwydrad. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "explosion": explosions. (additional references) | |
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"Explosion" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: explusion, expolosion, expozoo. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "explosion" (pronounced iksplō"zhun) |
| 6 | -p l ō" zh u n | implosion. |
| 4 | -ō" zh u n | corrosion, erosion. |
| 3 | -zh u n | abrasion, allusion, aspersion, aversion, circumcision, cohesion, collision, collusion, conclusion, confusion, contusion, conversion, decision, delusion, derision, diffusion, disillusion, dispersion, diversion, division, envision, equation, evasion, excision, exclusion, excursion, extrusion, fusion, illusion, immersion, incision, inclusion, incursion, indecision, infusion, intrusion, invasion, inversion, lesion, misprision, occasion, occlusion, persuasion, perversion, precision, preclusion, profusion, provision, recision, rescission, reversion, revision, seclusion, suasion, subdivision, submersion, subversion, supervision, television, transfusion, version, vision. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "e-i-l-n-o-o-p-s-x" | |
-2 letters: epsilon, loonies, pinoles, plosion. | |
-3 letters: eloins, insole, lesion, looies, loosen, oleins, opines, oxlips, pensil, pilose, pinole, pixels, poison, poleis, polies, polios, ponies, solion, spinel, spline. | |
-4 letters: eloin, enols, eosin, exons, expos, lenis, lenos, lexis, liens, lines, linos, lions, loins, looie, loons, loops, loose, lopes, loxes, nixes, noels, noils, noise, nolos, noose, olein, oleos. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-i-l-n-o-o-p-s-x" | |
+1 letter: explosions. | |
+2 letters: complexions. | |
+3 letters: explorations, expositional, nonexplosive. | |
+4 letters: complexations, exploitations, expostulation, nonexplosives, sexploitation. | |
+5 letters: expostulations, extrapolations, sexploitations. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)45 78 70 6C 6F 73 69 6F 6E |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references). -..- .--. .-.. --- ... .. --- -. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000101 01111000 01110000 01101100 01101111 01110011 01101001 01101111 01101110 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)E x p l o s i o n |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0045 0078 0070 006C 006F 0073 0069 006F 006E |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)399082788185758180 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Sounds | 9. Quotations: Fiction 10. Quotations: Non-fiction 11. Quotations: Spoken 12. Quotations: Speeches | 13. Usage Frequency 14. Expressions 15. Expressions: Internet 16. Translations: Modern | 17. Derivations 18. Rhymes 19. Anagrams 20. Orthography | 21. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
