flash point

plural flash points · alternative flashpoint

1. natural sciencesThe lowest temperature at which a liquid can form an ignitable mixture in air near the surface of the liquid.

   The flash point of new oils varies with viscosity: higher viscosity oils have higher flash points.

   2001, Don M. Pirro, Ekkehard Daschner, Lubrication Fundamentals, 2nd edition, CRC Press, →ISBN, page 48

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   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?

   1916, Peter McArthur, In Pastures Green

2. figurativelyA hotspot; a dangerous place of violent political unrest.

   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.

   2020 June 17, Julian Borger, “Himalayan flashpoint could spiral out of control as India and China face off”, in The Guardian

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   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.

   2018 November 29, Mat Youkee, “Panama the new flashpoint in China's growing presence in Latin America”, in The Guardian

   Synonyms: hot spot, trouble spot

3. The critical stage in some process, event, or situation at which action, change, or violence occurs

   The attack could prove the flashpoint for war.