thermobaric en · ADJ
Etymology
From thermo- + baric, derived from the Ancient Greek words for “heat” and “pressure”: θερμοβαρικός (thermobarikós), from θερμός (thermós, “hot”) + βάρος (báros, “weight, pressure”) + -ικός (-ikós, “-ic”).
Meanings
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(not-comparable) Describing various weapons that use atmospheric oxygen to produce a blast wave of a significantly longer duration than those produced by condensed explosives.
As he spoke, soldiers scrawled messages of retribution on the wings of a dozen drones, each packed with thermobaric explosives.
2026 June 10, Marc Santora, “A Twist in Ukraine’s Drone Campaign Is ‘Really Hurting the Russians’”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:Fears have risen over the use of thermobaric weapons by Russia after the Ukrainian ambassador to the US said a vacuum bomb – another term for the weapon – had been used during the invasion.
2022 March 1, Virginia Harrison, “What are thermobaric weapons and how do they work?”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 01 Mar 2022:
Deriveds
Relateds
Translations (8)
nl thermobarisch (Translations) · fi termobaarinen (Translations) · it termobarico (Translations) · el θερμοβαρικός (Translations) · es termobárico (Translations) · pl termobaryczny (Translations) · pt termobárico (Translations) · fr thermobarique (Translations)