combust

/kəmˈbʌst/

combust verb: to burn up, to burn away, to consume with fire.

Verb

combust (third-person singular simple present combusts, present participle combusting, simple past and past participle combusted)

(dated, transitive) To burn up, to burn away, to consume with fire.
- But if it be combuſted or burnt, it leaveth very much fixed Salt in its own aſhes.1662, Oriatrike, or, Physick Refined, page 183
- […] by combusting the steel in drillings in pure oxygen […]1895, Steel Works Analysis, page 16
Synonyms:

combure, burn, burn away, burn down, burn up, burn to a crisp, char up, cinder, cremate, forburn
(intransitive) To burn, to be consumed by fire; to catch fire.
- Brom swore after that he spoke only the truth, the truth that as he sat by my side praying for my soul, my body had combusted into flame, the fire rapidly engulfing my entire being.2014, Adelais Selwyn, Eadric, volume 1
Synonyms:

go up, burn, forburn, outburn, torch, catch fire, catch on fire, conflagrate, fire, go up in flames
1. (figuratively, intransitive) To erupt with enthusiasm or boisterousness.
  - The audience combusts.2012, Oliver Burkeman, The Antidote, Happiness for People who Can't Stand Positive Thinking, →ISBN

Adjective

combust (comparative more combust, superlative most combust)

(obsolete) Burnt.
In close conjunction with the sun (so that its astrological influence is "burnt up"), sometimes specified to be within 8 degrees 30'.
- Guianerius had a patient could make Latin verses when the moon was combust, otherwise illiterate., I.iii.1.3
- Who can discern those planets that are oft Combust, and those stars of brightest magnitude that rise and set with the Sun, untill the opposite motion of their orbs bring them to such a place in the firmament, where they may be seen evning or morning.1644, John Milton, Areopagitica

Noun

combust

(obsolete) That which undergoes burning.

combust meaning in Urdu, Assamese and Persian

combust in Assamese

burn, be consumed by fire; catch fire — see also burn, catch fire: জলা zola, জ্বলা zola

combust in Persian

burn, be consumed by fire; catch fire — see also burn, catch fire: آتش گرفتن âteš gereftan, بسوزم besuzan

Examples of combust in a sentence

[…] and the latter built bonfires and combusted the royal effigy in the uncommunicative confines of their rearward premises.1898, Comic History of Greece, page 194:
[…] and combusted the paper in a closed flask in an O₂ atmosphere (see Fig. 2).1968, Biological Effects of Transmutation, page 32:

Synonyms of combust

16 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of combust

Forms of combust

Verb
third-person singular present	combusts
present participle	combusting
past participle	combusted
past	combusted
Adjective
comparative	more combust
superlative	most combust

Past tense of combust: combusted

Origin of combust

From Middle English combust (“burnt”), from Middle French combust, from Latin combustus, the perfect passive participle of Latin combūrere (“to burn up, to burn away”, transitive), whence also English combure. The verb was originally transitive.

Words formed from combust

combuster
spontaneously combust

Words that rhyme with combust

25 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about combust

What does combust mean?: Combust means to burn up, to burn away, to consume with fire.
What is combust in Urdu?: Combust in Urdu is دھوپ سے جھلسا, جلا ہوا, جلانا. See Combust meaning in Urdu.
How do you use combust in a sentence?: […] and the latter built bonfires and combusted the royal effigy in the uncommunicative confines of their rearward premises.
What part of speech is combust?: Combust can be a verb, an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce combust?: Combust is pronounced /kəmˈbʌst/.
What is the past tense of combust?: The past tense of combust is combusted.

Words near combust in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: combust (page history and authors); combust (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-combust.ogg.

Cite this entry: “combust.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/combust. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.