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
Occasionally, a propane or gas tank will slip through the metals screening process causing the tanks to combust when passing through the shredder.
—
Quinlan Bentley, The Enquirer, 2 July 2025
Missiles combusted an oil refinery in Haifa and struck a hospital, a science institute and residential areas.
—Sebastien Roblin, Forbes.com, 1 July 2025
Pros: When burned cleanly, combusting all of the methane, LNG can reduce global warming impacts by around 10% compared with the diesel fuel many modern cruise ships use, Collette said.
—Nathan Diller, USA Today, 10 June 2025
But when the teens meet — both infected by the plagues of violence and the attention economy — neither can anticipate how their interaction will ultimately combust.
—Angelique Jackson, Variety, 8 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for combust
Quinlan Bentley, The Enquirer, 2 July 2025
Missiles combusted an oil refinery in Haifa and struck a hospital, a science institute and residential areas.
—Sebastien Roblin, Forbes.com, 1 July 2025
Pros: When burned cleanly, combusting all of the methane, LNG can reduce global warming impacts by around 10% compared with the diesel fuel many modern cruise ships use, Collette said.
—Nathan Diller, USA Today, 10 June 2025
But when the teens meet — both infected by the plagues of violence and the attention economy — neither can anticipate how their interaction will ultimately combust.
—Angelique Jackson, Variety, 8 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for combust
Recent Examples of Synonyms for combust
Verb
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The Jayhawks could have let Walker score, but didn’t, and instead burned their second timeout on defense with 32 seconds left.—
Shreyas Laddha,
Kansas City Star,
28 Sep. 2025
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The wildfire has been burning on state land for less than an hour.—
CA WILDFIRE BOT,
Sacbee.com,
28 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Best case is glowing reviews and great buzz buoy the film’s relevance among moviegoers for one week after another.—
J. Kim Murphy,
Variety,
27 Sep. 2025
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In videos shared to the meteor society and to local TV outlets, the satellite’s breakup appeared dramatic but serene, moving slowly across the sky and trailing glowing fragments for several seconds.—
Daniel Hunt,
Sacbee.com,
26 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Spotify also shared a graphic of the same design on Instagram, captioning it simply with a key emoji and flaming heart.—
Hannah Dailey,
Billboard,
29 Sep. 2025
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There was plenty of experimentation, too, seen via the shimmering tops in punchy shades like Big Bird yellow and flaming vermilion red, and the tinsel skirts that swished in all directions as models walked to a custom soundtrack by the British artist Steve McQueen.—
Kati Chitrakorn,
CNN Money,
28 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Combust.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/combust. Accessed 2 Oct. 2025.
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