touch off
verb
touched off; touching off; touches off
1
a
: to provoke or initiate with sudden intensity
the verdict touched off local riots
b
: to cause to explode by or as if by touching with fire
2
: to describe or characterize with precision
Examples of touch off in a Sentence
his obscene comment touched off a heated debate about the need for censorship on live broadcasts
Recent Examples on the Web
The invasion touched off demonstrations on campuses across the United States.
—
Kalyan Singhal, Baltimore Sun, 5 May 2025
The stories went viral, touching off tens of thousands of angry comments from users who were equally perplexed and dismayed over the loss of any piece of the city's already meager urban canopy.
—Vanessa Romo, NPR, 30 Apr. 2025
Hoover brushed aside the arguments of his own economists who warned that other nations would respond with their own tariffs, touching off a trade war in which every country would lose.
—Jesse Eisinger, ProPublica, 8 Apr. 2025
But that small decision, to take a drink of water partway through a 90-minute hot yoga session at Bode NYC, touched off a series of events — and one widely seen TikTok video — that resulted in an instructor losing her job.
—Gina Cherelus, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for touch off
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Kalyan Singhal, Baltimore Sun, 5 May 2025
The stories went viral, touching off tens of thousands of angry comments from users who were equally perplexed and dismayed over the loss of any piece of the city's already meager urban canopy.
—Vanessa Romo, NPR, 30 Apr. 2025
Hoover brushed aside the arguments of his own economists who warned that other nations would respond with their own tariffs, touching off a trade war in which every country would lose.
—Jesse Eisinger, ProPublica, 8 Apr. 2025
But that small decision, to take a drink of water partway through a 90-minute hot yoga session at Bode NYC, touched off a series of events — and one widely seen TikTok video — that resulted in an instructor losing her job.
—Gina Cherelus, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for touch off
Cite this Entry
“Touch off.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/touch%20off. Accessed 17 May. 2025.
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