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internal-combustion engine

noun

  1. an engine of one or more working cylinders in which the process of combustion takes place within the cylinders.


internal-combustion engine

noun

  1. a heat engine in which heat is supplied by burning the fuel in the working fluid (usually air)


internal-combustion engine

/ ĭn-tûrnəl-kəm-bŭschən /

  1. An engine whose fuel is burned inside the engine itself rather than in an outside furnace or burner. Gasoline and diesel engines are internal-combustion engines, as are gas turbine engines such as turbojets.
  2. Compare steam engine


internal-combustion engine

  1. Any engine powered by burning fuel inside it (for example, a standard automobile engine). Internal-combustion engines normally burn fossil fuels and therefore are a major source of air pollution . ( See smog .)


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Word History and Origins

Origin of internal-combustion engine1

First recorded in 1880–85

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Example Sentences

In attempting to compete against the internal combustion engine, Tesla may have to do something similar.

This progress was not accomplished by reinventing the internal combustion engine.

Now it is time for us to say goodbye to the internal combustion engine.

The internal combustion engine powered by readily available and low-cost fossil fuels could very well be reaching its natural end.

And it must save the world from the internal combustion engine.

It represents the greatest possible utilization of the power of heat in an internal-combustion engine.

The stillness of just-before-dawn was broken by the distant rumble of an internal-combustion engine.

The internal-combustion engine is the heart of the submarine.

This was the first instance of the use of an internal combustion engine in connection with aeronautical experiments.

But the chief method of employing oil for generating power is to use it in an internal combustion-engine.

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