blowup

Blowup is a term with several related meanings across different fields. In everyday language, it refers to a rapid increase or enlargement, and as a verb phrase “to blow up” can mean to explode, to inflate, or to magnify something. As a noun, a blowup or blow-up can denote the explosion itself, a large enlargement of an image, or a sudden outburst of anger or emotion.

In physical contexts, a blowup describes an explosive event such as a detonation or a rupture that releases energy and pressure. The word can also be used metaphorically to describe a rapid rise in size, intensity, or quantity, such as a market blowup or a population blowup.

In photography, a blow-up refers to an enlarged print produced from a negative or original image. Before digital tools, blow-ups were created with an enlarger to project and print a larger version of a photograph; today, digital software also enables high-resolution enlargements.

In film and culture, Blowup (often styled as Blow-Up) is a 1966 film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. It centers on a photographer whose images appear to reveal a crime, and the story is noted for its meditation on perception, reality, and interpretation.

In mathematics, a blow-up is a formal geometric construction used in algebraic geometry to study singularities. The process replaces a point on a space with a projective space, creating a new, often smoother, space that clarifies local structure and relationships in the original object.

Common usage persists in contexts ranging from science and art to everyday speech, where blowup captures concepts of explosion, enlargement, and rapid change.