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
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
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
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.
