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English (UK)
Cambridge Dictionary Online

Meaning of burst in English

burst
verb
uk
/bɜːst/ us
/bɝːst/
burst | burst
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B2 [ I or T ]
to break open or apart suddenly, or to make something do this:
burst open Suddenly the door burst open (= opened suddenly and forcefully) and police officers rushed in.
I hate it when balloons burst.
figurative humorous If I eat any more cake I'll burst (= I cannot eat anything else)!
burst its banks
If a river or other area of water bursts its banks, it becomes so full of water that it flows over the top of the land on either side of it:
The whole town flooded when the river burst its banks.
The river was threatening to burst its banks.
There were fears that the River Severn could burst its banks as levels continued to rise.
A lot of debris was washed up when the canal burst its banks.
Five months later, the lake burst its banks and drained into the sea.
C2 [ I ]
to feel a strong emotion, or strong wish to do something:
burst with I knew they were bursting with curiosity but I said nothing.
burst to Tom was bursting to tell everyone the news.
UK informal I'm bursting to go to the loo!
burst into flames
C2
to suddenly burn strongly, producing a lot of flames:
Smoke started pouring out from underneath, then the truck burst into flames.
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SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Exploding and erupting
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Idioms

burst at the seams
burst into song/tears/laughter
burst out laughing/crying

Phrasal verbs

burst in/into (somewhere)
burst in on someone/something
burst out
burst
noun [ C ]
uk
/bɜːst/ us
/bɝːst/

burst noun [C] (BREAK)

UK
the act of breaking open so that what is inside comes out:
a burst in the water pipe
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Exploding and erupting
See more results »

burst noun [C] (INCREASE)

a sudden increase in something, especially for a short period:
burst of energy With a burst of energy, they were able to finish the job before the deadline.
burst of speed With a burst of speed, the dog took off after the ball.
She came out on stage to a burst of applause.
a burst of laughter
Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples
activity
  • activityThere were several police vans and a lot of activity in the area.
  • hubbubI couldn't find her with all the hubbub going on.
  • bustleI miss the bustle of the big city.
  • hustle and bustleShe got used to the hustle and bustle of daily life.
  • flurry of activityWhat was the reason behind this sudden flurry of activity?
  • burst of activityIt's usually quiet in the shop, but occasionally we have a sudden burst of activity.
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SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Speed of motion
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
(Definition of burst from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

burst | American Dictionary

burst
verb [ I/T ]
us
/bɜrst/
past tense and past participle burst
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to break open or apart suddenly, or to cause something to break open or apart:
[ I ] Fireworks burst across the night sky.
[ T ] I thought I might have burst a blood vessel.
fig. A person who is bursting is extremely eager or enthusiastic:
[ I ] I was bursting with excitement.

Idiom

bursting at the seams

Phrasal verbs

burst in/into (somewhere)
burst into something
burst out
burst
noun [ C ]
us
/bɜrst/
a sudden, brief increase in something, or a short appearance of something:
With a burst of speed, the horse won easily.
(Definition of burst from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of burst

burst
His bursts of creative work were followed by periods of exhaustion, and these were often prolonged by pecuniary worry and under-nourishment.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Specifically, pregnant monkeys were placed in cages in a darkened room and exposed to unpredictable loud bursts of noise.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
In the case of autism, binding-related gamma bursting looks very similar to that in controls, apart from not being modulated by face inversion.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The laser builds up energy at a bounded rate and operation in this manner allows for large bursts of energy.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Of the monolingual speakers, one male and two female speakers produced 25, 16.7 and 45.4% of the tokens without clear bursts.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
During this phase, bursts of violence were frequent in the city.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
If only bursting responses were decoded, for instance, this would be likely to bias coding in the direction of localism.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The increase in bursting seemed to continue for up to twelve hours after training.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Neurons summate inputs and fire in bursts, other neurons react with longer latencies, the sensory signal is repeatedly reorganized, and the activity eventually dissipates.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The fluctuations grow exponentially at first and develop into turbulence without being accompanied by abrupt bursts or turbulent spots.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Why are long periods of political stability punctuated by sudden bursts of intense instability?
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Such bursts are noted in the 1830s, the 1910s and the 1940s but not, rather surprisingly, in the 1980s.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The flow characteristics as well as the bursting behaviour were studied in detail.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The foster brother bursts in and throws a net that captures all the courtiers.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The production of intense radiation bursts, by the electron beam during the reflection process, was also demonstrated.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
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These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with burst

burst

These are words often used in combination with burst.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

burst fire
This was intended to dramatically increase the accuracy of burst fire, but the system never truly worked, and was later dropped.
From
Wikipedia
This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.
burst of activity
There are some early prescriptions and musings, but the advent of sound on film occasioned the first burst of activity in the 1930s.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
burst of energy
First, this statistical work brings home the importance of this extraordinary burst of energy and excitement in the early 1560s.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
See all collocations with burst
What is the pronunciation of burst?
 

Translations of burst

in Chinese (Traditional)
（使）迸裂, （使）爆炸, （心中）充滿…
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in Chinese (Simplified)
（使）迸裂, （使）爆炸, （心中）充满…
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in Spanish
reventar, pinchar, estallar…
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in Portuguese
romper, estourar, irromper…
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in more languages
in Marathi
in Japanese
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in Italian
फुटणे, फोडणे - अचानक उघडणे किंवा तुटणे किंवा असे करायला लावणे, अनावर होणे - एखादी गोष्ट करण्याची तीव्र भावना किंवा इच्छा…
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破裂する, ～を破裂させる, 破裂（はれつ）させる…
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patla(t)mak, yar(ıl)mak, patlayıp param parça olmak…
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éclater, crever, se précipiter…
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rebentar(-se)…
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openbarsten, binnenstormen, uitbarsten in…
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திடீரென்று உடைத்து திறக்க அல்லது பிரிக்க, அல்லது ஏதாவது இதைச் செய்யும் படி செய்தல், ஒரு வலுவான உணர்ச்சியை உணர…
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अचानक झटके से बलपूर्वक खोल देना या तोड़-फोड़ देना, उग्रता के साथ महसूस करना या कुछ करने की छटपटाहट जैसी प्रबल इच्छा होना, लबालब भरा होना…
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ફૂટ જાવું, અચાનક ખુલ્લું અથવા અલગ થવું, અથવા કંઈક આવું કરવા માટે…
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revne, springe, brase ind…
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brista, rämna, spricka…
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memecahkan, tiba-tiba, melimpah…
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bersten, hereinstürmen, ausbrechen…
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briste, revne, sprekke…
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دھماکہ ہونا, دھماکہ کرنا, اچانک کسی چیز کا پھٹنا…
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лопатися, розриватися, вриватися…
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ఒక్కసారిగా పగిలి విచ్చుకోవడం లేదా విడిపోవడం, లేక దేన్నైనా ఇలా చేసేలా చేయడం., తీవ్రమైన భావో ద్వేగం లేక ఏదైనా చేయాలనే గట్టి కోరిక…
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ফেটে যাওয়া, ভেঙে টুকরো টুকরো হয়ে যাওয়া, ছটফট করা…
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prasknout, roztrhnout se, vybuchnout…
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meletus (pecah), menghambur, melimpah…
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ระเบิด, พรวดพราดเข้ามา, เข้าสู่(สภาพ)ทันที…
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nổ tung, xồng xộc, tràn…
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pękać, wybuch, rozsadzić…
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파열되다…
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scoppiare, sfondarsi, far scoppiare…
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bursae
bursar
bursary
bursitis
burst
burst at the seams idiom
burst in on someone/something phrasal verb
burst in/into (somewhere) phrasal verb
burst into flames phrase

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