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touch off
verb
to cause to explode, as by touching with a match
to cause (a disturbance, violence, etc) to begin
the marchers' action touched off riots
Idioms and Phrases
Cause to explode or fire; also, initiate, trigger. For example, The boys touched off a whole line of firecrackers , or These disclosures will touch off a public uproar . This idiom comes from early firearms, which were set off by putting a light to the touch-hole. Its figurative use dates from the late 1800s.
Depict very precisely, as in He touched off Teddy Roosevelt as well as it's ever been done . [Mid-1700s]
Example Sentences
Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE that touched off a week of chaotic, sporadically violent protests in parts of downtown.
Fontana police shot and killed a man they said brandished a gun at officers responding to a 911 call early Sunday morning, touching off an investigation.
The Trump administration touched off consternation and confusion over the weekend, issuing, and then apparently rolling back, an announcement implying the president had rescinded his predecessor’s order creating two popular national monuments in California.
Greg Gill, a semi-retired public relations professional and Altadena resident, said the county’s call for volunteers at the park was short on safety details and “touched off a lot of raw nerves.”
On Sunday Mahmoud Khalil, a prominent Palestinian activist and recent Columbia graduate who holds a green card, was arrested by federal immigration authorities, touching off a legal fight over his detention.
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