combusts

verb

present tense third-person singular of combust
as in glows
to be on fire especially brightly anthracite, which is naturally hard, combusts more cleanly than bituminous coal

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for combusts
  1. glows
  2. burns
Verb
  • Transamerica Pyramid looks almost close enough to touch; Coit Tower glows faintly in the distance.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 13 July 2026
  • The whole enterprise glows with friendly, pleasing daffiness.
    — Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 10 July 2026
Definition of glows
Verb
  • That is what happens when a society burns effigies long enough; eventually, somebody mistakes a person for one.
    — Jason Snyder, Forbes.com, 17 July 2026
  • And those diets are tailored by position since a midfielder, who may run more than seven miles in a match, burns more calories than a goalkeeper.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 15 July 2026
Definition of burns
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.

Browse Nearby Words

combustive
combusts
come
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Combusts.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/combusts. Accessed 20 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of raffish

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Do you 'say your piece' or 'say your peace'?

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

The Longest Long Words List

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

Why do we say 'fly off the handle'?
See More

Popular

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
child-detective
Spot the Misspelled Word July 2026 Those little red underlines can't help you now...
See All