- combustible
- combustible adj Combustible, inflammable, flammable, incendiary, inflammatory, which are not close synonyms, since they apply to different types of nouns, are comparable because they mean showing a tendency to catch or be set on fire.Combustible applies chiefly to material which is of such a nature that it catches fire easily and usually burns quickly{
excelsior is very combustible
}{a combustible roof of pine shingles
}Inflammable applies to materials ready to flame up at the slightest cause; the term, however, suggests more than the ease with which a thing burns, for it stresses a capacity for flaring up dangerously{the fire soon gutted the attic, which had been full of old papers and other inflammable materials
}Inflammable as applied to persons, their natures, their hearts, and their temperaments stresses the danger as well as the ease in arousing them (as to anger, excitement, or passion); it applies also to a subject or situation that can induce such arousal{the vision of a single young woman is said to have overcome the inflammable monk— Meredith
}{"Don't trouble about it, Clym. They may get to be friends." He shook his head. "Not two people with inflammable natures like theirs"— Hardy
}{a very inflammable subject to be raised at election time
}Flammable is equivalent to inflammable and used chiefly in respect to materials dangerously likely to flare up or explode{gasoline is a highly flammable substance requiring special care in storage and transportation
}Incendiary not only stresses a capacity for starting up or causing a conflagration but a malicious intent to do the same. Therefore the term applies not only to something that is designed to cause fire but to fire that is caused by intent or design{an incendiary bomb
}{an incendiary conflagration
}The term may be extended to something (as an act, practice, speech, or publication) that tends to arouse something (as sedition, evil passions, or violence) that acts as destructively or disastrously as fire{incendiary ideas
}{an incendiary policy
}While the adjective is seldom applied to persons, the noun incendiary chiefly, except when used as short for such phrases as incendiary bomb, designates a person who maliciously or willfully sets fire to a building or other property or who deliberately incites quarrels, unrests, sedition, or violence.Inflammatory, like incendiary, emphasizes the power to cause a fire, especially in the hearts or minds of people, but it carries less suggestion of a malicious intent{taking to politics, he became a Chartist, and was found to be a capable inflammatory speaker— Lucas
}{this gentleman . . . having been imprisoned fourteen months for inflammatory language anent the Federal Government— Repplier
}
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
