combust
combust Lexical Profile
combust Game Scores & Validity
• verb
To catch fire, burn, or undergo rapid chemical oxidation accompanied by the release of heat and light.
"Damp hay stored in poorly ventilated barns can generate enough internal heat to spontaneously combust."
To erupt suddenly with intense emotion, anger, or agitation, or to break down under extreme pressure.
"Tensions within the committee were so high that everyone expected the meeting to combust at any moment."
• adjective
Positioned within approximately eight and a half degrees of the sun, such that a planet's astrological influence is considered weakened or obscured by solar glare (in astrology).
"In the traditional natal chart, Mercury was considered combust and therefore unable to express its full astrological strength."
• Rhymes for combust
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the late Middle English period from Old French or directly from Latin combustus, the past participle of comburere ('to burn up, consume'), formed from the intensive prefix com- and urere ('to burn'), influenced by ambustus ('burned around'). The modern verb is partly a 19th-century back-formation from combustion.