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brisance (bri-ZAHNS) - n., the shattering power of a high explosive.
What is being measured when you compare something to TNT. The adjective is brisant, which is what I first encountered, but this is easier to define. Adopted around 1910 from brisant, from French, the present participle of briser, to break, from a Celtic root (compare Old Irish brissim, I break) -- so the focus really is in the shattering effect.
---L.
What is being measured when you compare something to TNT. The adjective is brisant, which is what I first encountered, but this is easier to define. Adopted around 1910 from brisant, from French, the present participle of briser, to break, from a Celtic root (compare Old Irish brissim, I break) -- so the focus really is in the shattering effect.
---L.
