Wiktionary

flash point

See also: flashpoint

English

edit

Alternative forms

edit

Pronunciation

edit
  • IPA(key): /ˈflæʃ ˌpɔɪnt/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -æʃpɔɪnt

Noun

edit

flash point (plural flash points)

  1. (physics) The lowest temperature at which a liquid can form an ignitable mixture in air near the surface of the liquid.
    Coordinate terms: autoignition temperature, fire point, smoke point
    • 1916, Peter McArthur, In Pastures Green‎[1]:
      The whole cursed corporation ought to be rooted out and drowned in its own incombustible product. What is the flash point of this condemned coal oil anyway?
    • 2001, Don M. Pirro, Ekkehard Daschner, Lubrication Fundamentals, 2nd edition, CRC Press, →ISBN, page 48:
      The flash point of new oils varies with viscosity: higher viscosity oils have higher flash points.
  2. (figuratively) A hotspot; a dangerous place of violent political unrest.
    Synonyms: hot spot, trouble spot
    • 2018 November 29, Mat Youkee, “Panama the new flashpoint in China's growing presence in Latin America”, in The Guardian‎[2]:
      This strategic outcrop is home to a handful of derelict buildings once used to house US military personnel. But it has become a new flashpoint in the global rivalry between Beijing and Washington, as the US struggles to develop a coherent strategy to deal with China’s rising influence in Latin America.
    • 2020 June 17, Julian Borger, “Himalayan flashpoint could spiral out of control as India and China face off”, in The Guardian‎[3]:
      The forces of two nuclear weapons states have set about each other with clubs and rocks at one of the most forbidding flashpoints in the world, in a bloody incident that highlights the constant dangers posed by expansionist nationalism.

Translations

edit
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=flash_point&oldid=82520262"