as in to burn
to be on fire especially brightly
anthracite, which is naturally hard, combusts more cleanly than bituminous coal
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of combust
In the Cold War, Washington—twice burned by Eurasian conflagrations—opted to keep the supercontinent from combusting again.
—
Hal Brands, Foreign Affairs, 25 Feb. 2025
When combusted, biogas can produce significant amounts of heat, useful in various industrial and agricultural applications.
—Sergey Buchin, Forbes, 2 Jan. 2025
The power plant likely also stores chemicals used for cooling, cleaning or other processes, some of which may combust under certain circumstances.
—Yaakov Katz, Newsweek, 17 Jan. 2025
In conventional designs, air is compressed by an axial compressor, mixed with fuel, and combusted continuously.
—Vikram Mittal, Forbes, 13 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for combust
Hal Brands, Foreign Affairs, 25 Feb. 2025
When combusted, biogas can produce significant amounts of heat, useful in various industrial and agricultural applications.
—Sergey Buchin, Forbes, 2 Jan. 2025
The power plant likely also stores chemicals used for cooling, cleaning or other processes, some of which may combust under certain circumstances.
—Yaakov Katz, Newsweek, 17 Jan. 2025
In conventional designs, air is compressed by an axial compressor, mixed with fuel, and combusted continuously.
—Vikram Mittal, Forbes, 13 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for combust
Recent Examples of Synonyms for combust
Verb
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The pair, who met as college undergrads, both burned with idealism and recognized their privilege could be leveraged for a game-changing idea.—
Carole Horst,
Variety,
13 Sep. 2023
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The Ellen MacArthur Foundation promotes circular fashion and says that, in the United States, an amount of clothing equal to a garbage truck is ferried to landfills or burned every second.—
Neeti Mehra,
Treehugger,
13 Sep. 2023
Verb
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The portals glow alluringly, the fountains dance in low light, and the Celestial Carousel is an other-worldly beacon.—
Mackenzie Schmidt,
People.com,
22 May 2025
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Women made up by Ta love his ability to create the most beautiful, radiant skin in the business, with a light that seems to glow from within.—
Luisa Zargani,
Footwear News,
21 May 2025
Verb
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As a result, when the signal finally came, the flaming mail coach proved a fizzle rather than a rocket.—
Joseph Patrick Kelly,
The Conversation,
20 May 2025
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There are giant explosions, brutal plane crashes in the jungle, shoot-outs in the desert, secret assassins, fist fights, flaming arrows, hand grenades, gruesome injuries and bullets which need extracting, and a more frenetic pace.—
Radhika Seth,
Vogue,
18 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Combust.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/combust. Accessed 3 Jun. 2025.
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