combusts

verb

present tense third-person singular of combust
as in glows
to be on fire especially brightly anthracite, which is naturally hard, combusts more cleanly than bituminous coal

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of combusts Unlike SpaceX's current workhorse launcher Falcon 9, which burns a form of the aviation fuel kerosene, Starship combusts the much cleaner combination of methane and liquid oxygen. — Tereza Pultarova, Space.com, 11 Aug. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for combusts
  1. glows
  2. burns
Verb
  • Another light show game is the Black Light Tumble Tower that glows in the dark.
    — BestReviews, Mercury News, 12 Aug. 2026
  • In a laboratory 2 kilometers underground, a crane lowers Matt Depatie, a detector technologist, through a hatch into a white-walled cavern filled with about 7,000 tons of ultrapure water that glows as blue as wiper fluid in the light.
    — James Dinneen, Quanta Magazine, 7 Aug. 2026
Definition of glows
Verb
  • And the Diderot-Baudelaire-Fried tree abides even as the forest burns mutely round it, match lit by Elon Musk and company.
    — Carlos Valladares, ARTnews.com, 14 Aug. 2026
  • Besides losing parts of her fingers on her left hand, the child suffered a cut to her right hand and burns to her left hand and left arm, prosecutors said.
    — Rocco Parascandola, New York Daily News, 12 Aug. 2026
Definition of burns

Browse Nearby Words

combustive
combusts
come
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Combusts.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/combusts. Accessed 18 Aug. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of oxymoron

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Do you 'say your piece' or 'say your peace'?

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

Is “GIF” Pronounced “Jiff” or “Giff”?

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
image of a green cube out of place in a lineup of red spheres
Odd Word Out: Synonyms Vol. 2 Quiz Figure out which word isn't like the others.
See All