Fireball

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈfaɪəbɔːl/

Definitions

1. A luminous spherical object, either a bright meteor streaking through the atmosphere, a ball of flame produced by an explosion, or a fiery projectile used as a weapon
2. A glowing, round mass seen in the sky as a meteor, a fiery explosion creating a sphere of flames, or a magical attack in fantasy contexts
3. A bright, spherical phenomenon that can be a meteor entering the atmosphere, an explosion generating a fiery ball, or a fantastical weapon used in games

Etymology: Fireball is a plain compound of "fire" and "ball", and its literal sense of a round mass of flame needs little explanation. What is more striking is how far the term has travelled from that picture. The same two words now name a rare, glowing meteor streaking across the sky, a blast of burning gas from an explosion, and, in fantasy games, a conjured missile of flame hurled at enemies. The most famous real-world examples are dramatic. On 18 April 1953, a nuclear test during Operation Upshot–Knothole at the Nevada Test Site produced a fireball of enormous size. On 15 February 2013, the Chelyabinsk meteor entered Earth's atmosphere over the Chelyabinsk Oblast in Russia and was described as a fireball, a term astronomers use for especially bright meteors, sometimes called superbolides. Sailors and heraldry have borrowed the word too: a "fireball" is a small racing sailboat, and it appears as a charge on coats of arms.

Synonyms: blaze, firestorm, flare

Antonyms: extinguishment