flash point

• flashpoint

• IPA^(key): /ˈflæʃ.ˌpɔɪnt/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -æʃpɔɪnt

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:

     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:

     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:

     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.