COMBUSTION

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does combustion mean? 

• COMBUSTION (noun)
  The noun COMBUSTION has 3 senses:

1. a process in which a substance reacts with oxygen to give heat and light

2. a state of violent disturbance and excitement

3. the act of burning something

  Familiarity information: COMBUSTION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• COMBUSTION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A process in which a substance reacts with oxygen to give heat and light

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Synonyms:

burning; combustion

Hypernyms ("combustion" is a kind of...):

oxidation; oxidisation; oxidization (the process of oxidizing; the addition of oxygen to a compound with a loss of electrons; always occurs accompanied by reduction)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "combustion"):

deflagration (combustion that propagates through a gas or along the surface of an explosive at a rapid rate driven by the transfer of heat)

fire; flame; flaming (the process of combustion of inflammable materials producing heat and light and (often) smoke)

internal combustion (the combustion of fuel inside a cylinder (as in an internal-combustion engine))

Derivation:

combust (undergo combustion)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A state of violent disturbance and excitement

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Context example:

combustion grew until revolt was unavoidable

Hypernyms ("combustion" is a kind of...):

garboil; tumult; tumultuousness; uproar (a state of commotion and noise and confusion)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The act of burning something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

burning; combustion

Context example:

the burning of leaves was prohibited by a town ordinance

Hypernyms ("combustion" is a kind of...):

change of integrity (the act of changing the unity or wholeness of something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "combustion"):

arson; fire-raising; incendiarism (malicious burning to destroy property)

firing; ignition; inflammation; kindling; lighting (the act of setting something on fire)

incineration (the act of burning something completely; reducing it to ashes)

Derivation:

combust (cause to burn or combust)

 Context examples 

An aromatic hydrocarbon that consists of five fused rings and is formed during the incomplete combustion of organic matter.

(Cyclopenta[cd]pyrene, NCI Thesaurus)

Just like a combustion engine burning fuel to power the pistons, healthy heart cells consume fuel molecules to create the necessary energy to keep the heart pumping.

(Excess Fat Disrupts Heart Cell's Energy System, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Issues associated with the combustion of device components, resulting in any of the following: light, flame, smoke.

(Fire Medical Device Problem, Food and Drug Administration)

It is ubiquitous in the environment as a product of incomplete combustion of fossil fuels.

(Anthracene, NCI Thesaurus)

An odorless, tasteless, poisonous gas, CO, that results from the incomplete combustion of carbon.

(Carbon monoxide, NCI Thesaurus)

A yellowish, aromatic hydrocarbon consisting of six fused rings and produced by the incomplete combustion of organic matter.

(Indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene, NCI Thesaurus)

Remote lakes in a perpetually ice-free area of Antarctica show not only the chemical signature of ancient wildfires, but also some much more recent evidence of fossil-fuel combustion.

(Antarctic lakes are a repository for ancient soot, NSF)

These compounds are normally found in particulate emissions from many combustion sources, like diesel exhaust.

(Nitroarene Carcinogen, NCI Thesaurus)

In each case, also, there is combustion going on in the room—in the one case a fire, in the other a lamp.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

TRAP comes from the combustion of fossil fuels by motor vehicles.

(Pregnancy hypertension risk increased by traffic-related air pollution, National Institutes of Health)