touched off

verb

past tense of touch off
as in activated
to cause to function his obscene comment touched off a heated debate about the need for censorship on live broadcasts

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 touched off The story touched off an investigation by the United States Anti-Doping Agency that eventually led to the coach’s four-year ban. — Tracy Weber, ProPublica, 18 Sep. 2026 Trump’s tariffs on Canada, for example, have touched off a trade war with one of the United States’ closest allies. — Kim Hjelmgaard, USA Today, 5 Sep. 2026 Not since voters passed Proposition 13, an iconic property tax limit, in 1978 and touched off tax revolts in other states has a California measure potentially affected America’s taxation policies so broadly. — Dan Walters, Mercury News, 27 Aug. 2026 The controversy was touched off by a New York Post report that Gordillo lives in a spacious Bedford-Stuyvesant dwelling bought by his parents that is now undergoing renovations. — Josephine Stratman, New York Daily News, 24 Aug. 2026 Meanwhile, an electric color palette of zingy greens, bold reds, and Prussian blues–touched off with plenty of black accents–amplifies the property’s wildly original juxtaposition of antiquity and modernity. — Alexandra Kirkman, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2026 The still-unknown circumstances around Wells’ death have touched off rampant online speculation and prompted calls from Black leaders for transparency from local authorities. — ABC News, 21 July 2026 The receivership touched off a painful community journey that brought on job reductions, layoffs and school closures as enrollment sharply declined. — Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times, 9 July 2026 The order prompted the company to disable all global access to the two advanced systems and touched off intensive talks toward a resolution. — Josh Wingrove, Fortune, 27 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for touched off
  1. activated
  2. triggered
  3. sparked
  4. set off
  5. drove
Verb
  • Federal immigration officials need to ensure that body cameras worn by officers are uniformly activated when needed, a government report released Wednesday said, following a series of contentious shootings and aggressive arrests by ICE officers.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 14 Oct. 2026
  • The carrier is expected to hold NATO command ship responsibilities until mid-2027, positioning it to lead a multinational naval force if activated during an international crisis.
    — Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of activated
Verb
  • The attack has caused huge disruption to air travel and triggered a wave of cancellations for events taking place in the Saudi capital this week, with the World Petroleum Congress this week most directly impacted.
    — Leonie Kidd, CNBC, 12 Oct. 2026
  • The crisis was triggered when about 80,000 people poured into the Spanish exclave in late July from neighboring Morocco, driven by rumors online that Spain had opened its border.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 12 Oct. 2026
Definition of triggered
Verb
  • Snowden’s leaks in 2013 revealed NSA programs that sparked a global debate about government surveillance.
    — Chad de Guzman, Time, 15 Oct. 2026
  • The rise in such killings has sparked protests and calls for government action as many of the killings remain unsolved while others go unreported.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of sparked
Verb
  • This is adorned with two oval inlaid embroidery inserts accented with rhinestones and set off by a yellow lining, depicting the encounter between a woman seated in profile and a small Cupid.
    — Luisa Zargani, Footwear News, 16 Oct. 2026
  • Dropping two cylinders and losing almost three liters of displacement means there’s no option for shaking a garage on its foundations or setting off car alarms while waiting for a red light.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of set off
Verb
  • The individual who inflicted the fatal injury drove the spear downward through the victim’s left chest cavity from the front, piercing major arteries and the lungs before creating the hole in the left scapula.
    — Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 15 Oct. 2026
  • Ohtani drove the Struggle Bus into Game 3, having struck out seven times in 20 playoff at-bats, with only three singles and no extra-base hits and no RBIs.
    — Mirjam Swanson, Los Angeles Times, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of drove

Browse Nearby Words

touched down
touched off
touched (on)
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Touched off.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/touched%20off. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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