flash point

See also: flashpoint

English

Alternative forms

• flashpoint

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈflæʃ ˌpɔɪnt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æʃpɔɪnt

Noun

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

temperature

• Bulgarian: температура на запалване (temperatura na zapalvane)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 閃點 / 闪点 (zh) (shǎndiǎn)

• Czech: bod vzplanutí m
• Finnish: leimahduspiste
• French: point d’inflammabilité (fr) m
• German: Flammpunkt (de) m
• Hungarian: lobbanáspont (hu)
• Kazakh: лап ету температурасы (lap etu temperaturasy), тұтану температурасы (tūtanu temperaturasy)
• Maori: paemahana mura
• Norwegian: antennelsestemperatur m, flammepunkt n
• Spanish: punto de inflamabilidad m

figuratively; a hotspot

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 火藥桶 / 火药桶 (zh) (huǒyàotǒng)

• Finnish: ruutitynnyri
• German: Brennpunkt (de) m
• Norwegian: brennpunkt n, kritisk punkt n
• Swedish: krutdurk (sv) c