Combust

//kəmˈbʌst// adj, noun, verb

adj, noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    That which undergoes burning. obsolete
Verb
  1. 1
    To burn; to catch fire.

    "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."

  2. 2
    undergo combustion wordnet
  3. 3
    To erupt with enthusiasm or boisterousness. figuratively, intransitive

    "The audience combusts."

  4. 4
    cause to become violent or angry wordnet
  5. 5
    get very angry and fly into a rage wordnet
Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    start to burn or burst into flames wordnet
  2. 7
    cause to burn or combust wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    Burnt. obsolete
  2. 2
    In close conjunction with the sun (so that its astrological influence is "burnt up"), sometimes specified to be within 8 degrees 30'.

    "Guianerius had a patient could make Latin verses when the moon was combust, otherwise illiterate."

Example

More examples

"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."

Etymology

From Middle English combust (“burnt”), from Old French combust, from Latin combustus, the perfect passive participle of Latin combūrere (“to burn up”).

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.