flash points

noun

plural of flash point
1
as in volcanoes
a potentially explosive place or situation that troubled region remains one of the world's most dangerous flash points

Synonyms & Similar Words

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2
as in crises
a time or state of affairs requiring prompt or decisive action tensions between the two longtime adversaries were at a flash point

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of flash points The context for Xi’s remarks was a potential war between China and the United States over Taiwan, and the urgency to tamp down flash points. — Letters To The Editor, Washington Post, 17 May 2026 Despite the focus on the Middle East, the leaders took up major regional flash points, including the South China Sea territorial disputes involving Beijing, a five-year civil war in Myanmar and a recent border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia. — Jim Gomez, Los Angeles Times, 8 May 2026 But more potential flash points loom. — Jill Lawless The Associated Press, Arkansas Online, 5 Feb. 2026 Policymakers expect other flash points. — Alan Greenblatt, CBS News, 12 Jan. 2026 And a handful of standout horror films from around the ’70s, Johnson argues, specifically mirrored and even accelerated feminist flash points at a moment when public opinion regarding the roles and rights of women was wildly in flux. — Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 30 Oct. 2025 Arrests are taking place all over the Chicago area, but some of the biggest flash points have occurred on the South and West Sides, which are home to many of the city’s largest Black and Latino communities. — Geraldo Cadava, New Yorker, 16 Oct. 2025 Those efforts are now critical as AI and semiconductors become geopolitical flash points. — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 5 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for flash points
  1. volcanoes
  2. crises
  3. time bombs
  4. crossroads
  5. boiling points
  6. heads
Noun
  • For those who want to take a day trip to hike in Iztaccíhuatl–Popocatépetl National Park—a little over an hour away—winter is ideal, with steady warm temperatures and a photogenic dusting of snow on the volcanoes.
    — Zanny Merullo, Travel + Leisure, 21 June 2026
  • Darwin suspected that atolls formed when coral grew around volcanoes, creating a ring that remained when the volcano subsided.
    — Danny Robb, JSTOR Daily, 19 June 2026
Definition of volcanoes
Noun
  • My mother went through very severe emotional crises, and my father struggled with alcohol.
    — Rafa Sales Ross, Variety, 13 July 2026
  • Stingley had experienced similar mental health crises before, and was prescribed psychiatric medication, the lawsuit said.
    — Theresa Clift, Sacbee.com, 13 July 2026
Definition of crises
Noun
  • Ray’s most chaotic photograms—jumbles that push out of the frame or look like time bombs ready to explode—find echoes in his films, projected on the back walls, a show in themselves.
    — Vince Aletti, New Yorker, 3 Oct. 2025
Definition of time bombs
Noun
  • Given Syria’s location at the crossroads of Asia, Europe and the Middle East, organizers see the event as a chance to reconnect the country with regional and global supply chains and reestablish it as a competitive manufacturing hub.
    — Arthur Zaczkiewicz, Footwear News, 16 July 2026
  • Sheikh Hamad, who stepped down in June 2013 after 18 years as emir, was the architect of energy-rich Qatar’s ambitions that transformed it into an international crossroads in less than a generation.
    — Jon Gambrell, Los Angeles Times, 12 July 2026
Definition of crossroads
Noun
  • The intense temperature and pressure of the impact heated the moon's crust and mantle so much that many of the volatile elements present (volatiles are elements with low boiling points), including potassium, evaporated and escaped into space.
    — Keith Cooper, Space.com, 23 Jan. 2026
  • Thermodynamics drives selective recovery The researchers hypothesized that FJH combined with chlorine gas could exploit differences in Gibbs free energy and boiling points to selectively remove non-REE elements from magnet waste.
    — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 29 Sep. 2025
Definition of boiling points
Noun
  • And to do that, the Hurricanes are blocking out the noise, putting their heads down and getting to work.
    — Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 16 July 2026
  • Because of that commonality and because produce has been behind some past cyclospora outbreaks, Michigan officials advised consumers to buy whole heads of lettuce, discard the outer layers and thoroughly wash what is left.
    — Mike Stobbe, Fortune, 15 July 2026
Definition of heads

Browse Nearby Words

flash point
flash points
flashy
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Cite this Entry

“Flash points.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/flash%20points. Accessed 19 Jul. 2026.

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