deflagrate

[ def-luh-greyt ]

/ ˈdɛf ləˌgreɪt /

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verb (used with or without object), def·la·grat·ed, def·la·grat·ing.

to burn, especially suddenly and violently.

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Origin of deflagrate

1720–30; <Latin dēflagrātus (past participle of dēflagrāre to burn down), equivalent to dē-de- + flagr(āre) to burn + -ātus-ate¹

OTHER WORDS FROM deflagrate

def·la·gra·ble, adjectivedef·la·gra·bil·i·ty, noundef·la·gra·tion, noun

Words nearby deflagrate

definitive host, definitively, definitive plumage, definitize, definitude, deflagrate, deflate, deflation, deflationary gap, deflationary spiral, deflect

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use deflagrate in a sentence

They deflagrate when sprinkled on fused nitre, forming carbonate of potash.
A Textbook of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines.|Cornelius Beringer and John Jacob Beringer
Another portion of the residue should deflagrate when saturated with an alkali and projected upon live coals.
Legal Chemistry|A. Naquet
They deflagrate like the chlorates when heated with combustibles.
Cooley's Practical Receipts, Volume II|Arnold Cooley
The matches tipped with it deflagrate with a snapping noise.
Cooley's Practical Receipts, Volume II|Arnold Cooley

Like the nitrates, they deflagrate with inflammable substances, but with greater facility and violence.
Cooley's Cyclopdia of Practical Receipts and Collateral Information in the Arts, Manufactures, Professions, and Trades..., Sixth Edition, Volume I|Arnold Cooley

British Dictionary definitions for deflagrate

deflagrate

/ (ˈdɛfləˌɡreɪt, ˈdiː-) /

verb

to burn or cause to burn with great heat and light

Derived forms of deflagrate

deflagration, noun

Word Origin for deflagrate

C18: from Latin dēflagrāre, from de- + flagrāre to burn

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012