touch off
Britishverb
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to cause to explode, as by touching with a match
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to cause (a disturbance, violence, etc) to begin
the marchers' action touched off riots
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Cause to explode or fire; also, initiate, trigger. For example, The boys touched off a whole line of firecrackers , or These disclosures will touch off a public uproar . This idiom comes from early firearms, which were set off by putting a light to the touch-hole. Its figurative use dates from the late 1800s.
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Depict very precisely, as in He touched off Teddy Roosevelt as well as it's ever been done . [Mid-1700s]
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.
Twice forced Lukas Hornicek into big saves before second goal took final touch off him.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
What she couldn’t have realized on that afternoon in the Dolomites was that her success would touch off a stunning gold rush for the rest of Team USA.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 23, 2026
“I just think my mechanics were a touch off there those first couple innings,” Wrobleski said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 5, 2025
The move would have reduced the power of the group’s former leader Yevgeny V. Prigozhin and, analysts believe, helped touch off his failed mutiny against Russia’s military leadership.
From New York Times ● Sep. 29, 2023
Frustration over the lack of progress in housing and employment issues kept tensions high in Durham, with only a spark needed to touch off an explosion.
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
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.
