erupt
verb
Simple meaning
Become active and spew forth lava and rocks.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ihruhptSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɪˈɹʌpt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
Become active and spew forth lava and rocks
“Vesuvius erupts once in a while.”
intransitive
To burst forth; to break out.
“The tooth erupted and had to be extracted.”
Force out or release suddenly and often violently something pent up
intransitive
To eject something violently (such as lava or water, as from a volcano or geyser).
Start to burn or burst into flames
intransitivefiguratively
To spontaneously release pressure or tension.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Become active and spew forth lava and rocks
Used this way, erupt is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“Vesuvius erupts once in a while.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Becomeverb
“Vesuvius erupts once in a while.”
Burstverb
“The tooth erupted and had to be extracted.”
More ways to use erupt
- “Vesuvius erupts once in a while.”verb
- “A rash erupted on her arms after she had touched the exotic plant.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.