How to Use afterburner in a Sentence

afterburner

noun
  • Weigand slammed on his brakes and then fired the afterburner.
    — Carl Prine, sandiegouniontribune.com, 21 Sep. 2017
  • Some of the pilots dive right at the start of the gorge, afterburners blazing.
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 May 2019
  • Taylor caught a ball on a slant route and showed his burst of speed, turning on the afterburners to race to the end zone.
    — Chris Hays, The Orlando Sentinel, 14 May 2026
  • Two red marbles serve as the jet’s afterburners while one green one represents the landing gear.
    — Daniel Brown, The Athletic, 26 Apr. 2024
  • Unleashing the full fury of the hybrid system is like lighting the fuse on an afterburner.
    — Tim Pitt, Robb Report, 9 Nov. 2022
  • Diving in afterburner, North and his wingman scooted south at top speed.
    — Eric Tegler, Popular Mechanics, 11 July 2021
  • But under orders to snap the photos and go home, the Phantoms lit their afterburners.
    — Popular Mechanics, 14 Mar. 2023
  • The legacy business, in his view, was on the brink of a breakout, with the dot-com component sure to fire up the afterburners.
    — Neal B. Freeman, National Review, 3 June 2024
  • Which is when Ortiz found the afterburner switch and Forte breezed by his opponents to take the wire.
    — Guy Martin, Forbes, 1 Apr. 2023
  • The sensation behind the wheel is a head-spinning blast of boost akin to igniting a jet afterburner.
    — Robb Report Contributors, Robb Report, 26 Dec. 2025
  • With afterburners glowing, the jets made a low pass over the Village of Heritage.
    — Orange County Register, 22 Mar. 2017
  • Afterwards, the air is mixed with fuel in the burners, with more fuel combined to the exhaust at the afterburner stage.
    — Erik Schechter, Popular Mechanics, 28 Apr. 2015
  • Usually, the result is that Walker turns on the afterburners and wins the duel.
    — Zak Garner-Purkis, Forbes, 24 Nov. 2024
  • In full afterburner, the Eagles quickly exhausted their fuel and were forced to leave.
    — Eric Tegler, Popular Mechanics, 11 July 2021
  • That video also showed a Russian jet engaging its afterburner by the drone a move that affected the drone's flight path.
    — Luis Martinez, ABC News, 6 July 2023
  • Thuram kicked it long and put the afterburners on, fully expecting to leave Pepe in the dust/grass, but Pepe just about kept up.
    — Amy Lawrence, The Athletic, 5 July 2024
  • James turned on the afterburners from about three-quarters court and somehow smacked this shot away without fouling the vet, keeping the game deadlocked at 89 apiece.
    — Charles Curtis, For The Win, 31 May 2018
  • The jet can fly at supersonic speeds without afterburners, saving fuel and extending its range.
    — Sujita Sinha, Interesting Engineering, 2 June 2026
  • In the back, enthusiasts may notice that the exhaust setup has been redesigned to resemble the spy plane’s afterburners.
    — Bryan Hood, Robb Report, 21 Aug. 2023
  • But the biggest changes can be found at the back of the car, where the rear end has been outfitted with a pair of vertical stabilizers and a set of faux afterburners and missiles.
    — Bryan Hood, Robb Report, 27 Feb. 2025
  • Against Pittsburgh, Collins turned on the afterburners to cut down James Conner just short of the goal line and preserve the shutout.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 3 Oct. 2019
  • But yes, there’s also a meta-textual level where the prose goes on afterburners and is stylistically different.
    — Stuart Miller, Orange County Register, 16 Jan. 2025
  • For strict airport noise limits at takeoff and landing, engines must avoid afterburners, using smart nozzles and shielding instead.
    — Kapil Kajal, Interesting Engineering, 28 Aug. 2025
  • Note the Su-27’s engines become white-hot as the Russian pilot hits the afterburners.
    — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 5 Nov. 2018
  • Despite its initial success with the afterburners, Destinus won’t be moving up to a larger prototype jet just yet.
    — Michael Verdon, Robb Report, 1 June 2023
  • Leroy Sané turned on the afterburners and raced into the box before being clumsily brought down by William Saliba.
    — Ben Church, CNN, 9 Apr. 2024
  • To turn on the afterburners on offense and blow by Army on Saturday at Michigan Stadium.
    — Orion Sang, Detroit Free Press, 7 Sep. 2019
  • But that scenario seems far less likely and immensely less taxing than City of Troy just reaching over to the dash and flicking on his afterburners, as his daddy so often did.
    — Guy Martin, Forbes, 2 Nov. 2024
  • In footage released late Thursday, J-15 fighter jets were shown taking off and landing in the darkness, their afterburners glowing.
    — Fox News, 25 May 2018
  • This is urgent With the regular season entering its final month, now is the time for the Revolution to turn on the afterburners in the playoff hunt.
    — Dan Shulman, BostonGlobe.com, 6 Sep. 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'afterburner.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: