BURSTING Synonyms: 100 Similar and Opposite Words

bursting 1 of 3

adjective

as in filled

containing or seeming to contain the greatest quantity or number possible the store was bursting with bargain hunters on the day of the big sale

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

bursting

2 of 3

noun

as in eruption

the act or an instance of exploding narrowly escaped the bursting of the car's gas tank

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bursting

3 of 3

verb

present participle of burst

as in exploding

to break open or into pieces usually because of internal pressure the turnover's crust burst when the filling expanded

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as in shattering

to cause to break open or into pieces by or as if by an explosive finally burst the piñata open with one mighty swing of the bat

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in buzzing

to be copiously supplied a young singer/dancer who seems to be bursting with energy and talent

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of bursting

Noun

One reason for Thiele’s bursting-at-the-seams friend group is his growing list of Imdb credits. — Anna Tingley, Variety, 28 Aug. 2026 My phone lights up with a new text, and my heart lights up, too, a fresh lime dropping into a cold bottle of beer, a bursting balloon, a cartoon lightbulb flicking on with sudden, radiant intensity. — Literary Hub, 21 Aug. 2026 His business has survived multiple recessions, the bursting of the dot-com bubble and the 2008 financial crisis. — Cj Haddad,katie Tarasov, CNBC, 20 Aug. 2026 Whether the podcasting asset bubble bursting led directly to the ascendance of YouTube and video podcasting, or was simply incidental to the inevitable growth of YouTube podcasts, is a question reserved for podcast philosophers. — Frank Racioppi, Forbes.com, 20 July 2026 Sonically, there are specific elements that an arena-bursting, chart-topping song needs. — Jack Cosbie, Rolling Stone, 18 July 2026 After the bursting of the dot-com bubble in 2000, the economy slipped into a recession in 2001 and was further shaken by the September 11 terrorist attacks. — Chris Isidore, CNN Money, 22 June 2026 Dalio stressed that a bubble forming and a bubble bursting are different events. — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 8 June 2026 In central defence, Saliba and Gabriel edge out Marquinhos and Pacho, although Gabriel must be alert to cover the space left behind by Mendes’s lung-bursting runs forward. — Sarah Shephard, New York Times, 29 May 2026

Verb

Sip local wines like Norton or Vignoles, hop around downtown, or wander through orchards bursting with ripe apples while leaves crunch underfoot. — Taryn Shorr-McKee, Midwest Living, 26 Aug. 2026 Forever Cemetery, where John Carpenter’s shape-shifting, stomach-bursting masterpiece comes alive on All Hallows’ Eve. — Beatrice Verhoeven, HollywoodReporter, 25 Aug. 2026 The wealth of the richest Americans has torqued upward, bursting through the top of the graph, with no end in sight, completely untethered from the rest of the United States. — Literary Hub, 14 Aug. 2026 Murphy has built an empire by keeping a full-to-bursting pipeline of shows and returning to certain creative wells. — Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 8 Aug. 2026 The smell is rich, oceanic, and bursting with notes of lime and cilantro. — Megan Spurrell, Condé Nast Traveler, 7 Aug. 2026 Orange flame could be seen bursting through several windows of the brick apartment building. — Lisa Rozner, CBS News, 5 Aug. 2026 The X-ray shock breakout was the faintest ever detected, and follow-up observations didn’t identify any relativistic jet bursting forth. — Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 5 Aug. 2026 They’re layered, bursting with life, and a little undone, featuring an abundance of classic, old-fashioned blooms that invoke feelings of nostalgia and whimsy. — The Spruce, 4 Aug. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for bursting

Adjective

Maybe the sign-up flow has too many fields, the first action users need to take isn't obvious or there's a setting that should have been pre-filled.

— Kelli Behan-Aspland, Forbes.com, 6 Aug. 2026
The Wall Street Journal featured Reese alongside WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson on its magazine cover, even after Caitlin Clark broke numerous records, filled arenas, and set new marks for WNBA broadcasts.

— Jon Root OutKick, FOXNews.com, 1 May 2026

Definition of filled

Noun

Roads, vehicles and buildings in several villages in Karo affected by the eruption were covered in gray ash.

— ABC News, ABC News, 31 Aug. 2026
Seeing the Braves compete in this series with the Dodgers, from the walk-off win to the ace performances to the timely snags to Truist Park’s eruptions, hearkened back memories of October 2021.

— Gabriel Burns, AJC.com, 28 Aug. 2026

Definition of eruption

Verb

Octane measures how well fuel resists exploding prematurely under compression in a gasoline engine.

— Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 2 Sep. 2026
In late 2023, the exploding popularity of these drugs caused shares of medical device companies like Insulet to plummet, fueled by the narrative that GLP-1s would eliminate the need for insulin.

— Harvey Stober, CNBC, 1 Sep. 2026

Definition of exploding

Verb

The video shows a customer walking out of Cinnaholic when the girls ride the scooter through the window, shattering the glass.

— Adam Thompson, CBS News, 27 Aug. 2026
Wednesday, which was forecast to be the hottest day of the heat wave, brought record-shattering temperatures across the Southland.

— Iris Kwok, Los Angeles Times, 27 Aug. 2026

Definition of shattering

Verb

With the kids back in school and movie theaters buzzing with their best audience numbers in years, September might be the perfect time to catch a matinee.

— David Faris, TheWeek, 1 Sep. 2026
Since then, Swifties have been buzzing with what this could mean about the superstar’s next career steps.

— Maya Georgi, Rolling Stone, 30 Aug. 2026

Definition of buzzing

Adjective

Late-summer weekends will stay packed, but selection and pricing dynamics shift as harvests wind down and vendors face more end-of-day surplus.

— Lauren Schuster, Miami Herald, 1 Sep. 2026
For the first time, Rodrigo hosted her own festival, featuring a packed lineup of women including Chappell Roan, Doechii, Garbage and Mitski.

— Anthony Robledo, USA Today, 30 Aug. 2026

Definition of packed

Noun

That has led to an explosion in interest in the annual Pacific leaders meeting, which has grown from a casual affair to a summit with 2,000 attendees.

— ABC News, ABC News, 1 Sep. 2026
More messages arrived over Discord, X, WhatsApp, and even from a colleague who had been asked by a friend to see whether Fabian would correct his story to say that the explosion had been caused by interceptor fragments.

— Finn Brunton, Harpers Magazine, 1 Sep. 2026

Definition of explosion

Verb

Bowie planned to put the bomb in a delivery bag and escape to Syria after detonating it, the complaint alleges.

— Claire Carter, The Washington Examiner, 20 Aug. 2026
Just weeks before her confrontation with Cunningham, Carrington sent shockwaves through the WNBA by publicly detonating her former relationship on social media.

— Jackson Thompson OutKick, FOXNews.com, 9 Aug. 2026

Definition of detonating

Cite this Entry

Style

“Bursting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bursting. Accessed 5 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of bursting

adjective

noun

verb

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