Thesaurus results for FLASH POINTS

flash points

noun

plural of flash point

as in volcanoes

a potentially explosive place or situation that troubled region remains one of the world's most dangerous flash points

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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

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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

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

These educational crises—combined with evolutions in technology and culture—have rendered the experience of reading fiction, let alone poetry, a dispensable element of human life.

— Brady Brickner-Wood, New Yorker, 8 July 2026
Bolstered by poetic visuals and stunning performances from the young cast, Thorne’s psychological approach offers profound insight into the unconscious impulses that underlie our current political crises.

— Judy Berman, Time, 8 July 2026

Definition of crises

Noun

Inventories in Cushing, Oklahoma, the pipeline crossroads of America, remain below operational stress levels.

— David Goldman, CNN Money, 8 July 2026
In India, a Monitor writer’s awe-inspiring train ride through the Himalayas reveals a region at a political and social crossroads.

— Aakash Hassan, Christian Science Monitor, 8 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

Another practice involved staff stuffing insects, herbs and different scents into the leaves of lettuce heads, offering the adolescent skunks another challenge that would put their developing foraging skills to the test.

— Caleb Lunetta, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 July 2026
With the Lopes Cabral image, there are tons and tons of pieces of a man and woman embracing with their heads next to each other.

— T.M. Brown, CNN Money, 8 July 2026

Definition of heads

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“Flash points.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/flash%20points. Accessed 12 Jul. 2026.

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Synonyms of flash points

noun

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