combust
/kəmˈbʌst/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.44 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
In close conjunction with the sun (so that its astrological influence is "burnt up"), sometimes specified to be within 8 degrees 30'.
Example Sentences
- "But if it be combuſted or burnt, it leaveth very much fixed Salt in its own aſhes."
- "[…] by combusting the steel in drillings in pure oxygen […]"
- "[…] and the latter built bonfires and combusted the royal effigy in the uncommunicative confines of their rearward premises."
- "[…] and combusted the paper in a closed flask in an O₂ atmosphere (see Fig. 2)."
- "Brom swore after that he spoke only the truth, the truth that as he sat by my side praying for my soul, my body had combusted into flame, the fire rapidly engulfing my entire being."
- "The audience combusts."
Etymology
Etymology tree Latin combustus Middle French combustbor. English combust From Middle English combust (“burnt”), from Middle French combust, from Latin combustus, the perfect passive participle of Latin combūrere (“to burn up, to burn away”, transitive), whence also English combure. The verb was originally transitive.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
Inflected Forms
combusts (present, singular)
combusting (participle, present)
combusted (participle, past)
combusted (past)
more combust (comparative)
most combust (superlative)
Derived Forms
Phrases
spontaneously combust