self-ignite
Americanverb (used without object)
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of self-ignite
First recorded in 1940–45
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
A by-product of uranium enrichment, depleted uranium is used for ammunition because its extreme density gives rounds the ability to easily penetrate armor plating and self-ignite in a searing cloud of dust and metal.
From Reuters ● Sep. 1, 2023
Manufacturers like them because they pack more energy into smaller packages, but the batteries can self-ignite if they have a manufacturing flaw, are damaged, exposed to excessive heat, overcharged or packed too closely together.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 13, 2017
Unfortunately, parkesine is also highly flammable - as it degrades, it can self-ignite and is explosive on impact.
From BBC ● Dec. 10, 2013
Although the more bohemian of her relatives widen her horizons, Milicent's diary threatens to self-ignite with frustration whenever it is not being drowned in sorrow.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 21, 2011
According to the litigants, the lighter is an unstable fire bomb that can self-ignite in housecoat pockets and purses and on car dashboards.
From Time Magazine Archive
The world is still enduring the disastrous aftermath of Y2K: power outages, food shortages, self-ignited nuclear explosions.
From New York Times ● May 8, 2016
European and British authorities launched a joint investigation after several self-igniting parcels detonated in Germany, Poland and at a DHL depot in the UK in 2024.
From BBC ● Mar. 6, 2026
But German bitterness grew really ear nest over "a particularly detestable, low-down British weapon": the "self-igniting leaf."
From Time Magazine Archive
So far, the most promising product of the process is hydrazine, a derivative of which is used as highenergy, self-igniting fuel in the Air Force's Titan II rockets.
From Time Magazine Archive
They were self-igniting, and spurted out a needle-fine jet of fire that imparted a few dynes of force as long as the valve was held open.
From The Trouble with Telstar by John Schoenherr
Like the infinite inburst of water; or say rather, of inflammable, self-igniting fluid; for example, 'turpentine-and-phosphorus oil,'—fluid known to Spinola Santerre!
From The French Revolution by Thomas Carlyle
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
