Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of, relating to, or being a speech sound produced by complete closure of the oral passage and subsequent release accompanied by a burst of air, as in the sound (p) in pit or (d) in dog.
  • noun A plosive speech sound.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun phonetics Sound produced from opening a previously closed oral passage; for example, when pronouncing the sound /p/ in "pug".
  • adjective phonetics Produced in this way.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a consonant produced by stopping the flow of air at some point and suddenly releasing it

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From explosive.]

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Examples

  • Yes, it's about a complete cessation of airflow with a sudden release -- a 'plosive' -- rather than a restriction causing 'fricative' turbulence.

    Bukiet on Brooklyn Books Hal Duncan 2009

  • On the Cosmos series he said the word "billion" with a pronounced, plosive "b" which many took to be a speech defect.

    10 Neat Facts About Carl Sagan 2009

  • I found that I needed a “pop filter,” which cuts down on the plosive “p” sound and sibilance.

    Writer Unboxed » Blog Archive » Creating a podcast 2010

  • It's safest for this magazine's sanity if I substitute the words "chuffing" and "todd" for the concomitant seven- and four-letter words Bruce quietly drops everywhere, through habit rather than guile or anger; fricative and plosive, they're actually right in almost all contexts.

    Bruce Robinson: 'I'm just going to take my liver for a wash' 2011

  • Most of the time, we can differentiate between a “b” and a “p” sound over the phone, even though the audio cues that make the difference between these voiced on unvoiced plosive consonants live in the higher frequencies that are lost over phone circuits.

    2009 December « Steve Wildstrom on Tech 2009

  • Most of the time, we can differentiate between a “b” and a “p” sound over the phone, even though the audio cues that make the difference between these voiced on unvoiced plosive consonants live in the higher frequencies that are lost over phone circuits.

    Time To Make Phone Calls Sound Better? « Steve Wildstrom on Tech 2009

  • Perhaps the voiced bilabial plosive suggests the last and energetic verb (I know the withheld verbs create suspense).

    God’s Grandeur « Unknowing 2010

  • On the Cosmos series he said the word "billion" with a pronounced, plosive "b" which many took to be a speech defect.

    10 Neat Facts About Carl Sagan » E-Mail 2009

  • Point is, if the model is accurate it's like describing how sounds are articulated phonetically, how the/b/sound is a voiced bilabial plosive.

    Bukiet on Brooklyn Books Hal Duncan 2009

  • Tennant said that as he said everything here: with a vigorous enunciation and plosive push that was the aural equivalent of Space Dust on your tongue.

    How Roald Dahl Shaped Pop – review Elisabeth Mahoney 2010

Comments

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  • I wrote a sentence today which read in part:

    "to pep up its appearance".

    It sounded terrible with its overdose of plosives.

    December 15, 2007

  • polyplosivity!

    December 15, 2007

  • :-) Try smuggling that on board the aircraft!

    December 15, 2007