Incendiary Meaning
/ɪnˈsɛn.dɪ.əɹ.i/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjCapable of, or used for, or actually causing fire.
adjOf a damaging fire, intentionally caused rather than accidental.
Sentence Examples
Beth Sanders was known for both her incendiary speeches and her fierce writing.
Tom's incendiary rhetoric has no place here.
Tom's incendiary speech kicked the revolution into overdrive.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The arsonist used an ____ liquid that ignited instantly and caused the fire.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The police discovered several ____ devices that were intended to be used in the planned attack.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English incendiarie, from Old French incendiaire, from Latin incendiārius (“setting alight”), from incendium (“destructive fire”), from incendō (“to set on fire, kindle”), from in- (“into, in, on, upon”) + candeō (“to be hot”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Driving 2-6-2 locomotive No. 4771 Green Arrow, Blunt suddenly noticed that the tunnel mouth was silhouetted in a dazzling white glare and that incendiary bombs were showering down in their hundreds, he slammed on all his brakes and brought his train to a stop just inside the tunnel."
— 1944 July and August, “Top Link Drivers: XXI—Driver H. Blunt, L.N.E.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 226:
"We saw photographs of bodies riddled with pellets from fragmentation bombs or charred by incendiary weapons (besides napalm, the Americans also drop white phosphorus, Thermit, and magnesium on the Vietnamese)."
— 1969, Susan Sontag, “Trip to Hanoi”, in Styles of Radical Will, Kindle edition, Penguin Modern Classics, published 2009, →ISBN, page 246:
"Blast after blast, fiery outbreak after fiery outbreak, like a flaming barrage from within,[…]most of Edison's grounds soon became an inferno. As though on an incendiary rampage, the fires systematically devoured the contents of Edison's headquarters and facilities."
— 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 1, in Internal Combustion:
"The Crown must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the fire was incendiary in origin; that is, it was not accidental and that it was either intentionally or recklessly set by the accused."
— 2003 December 18, Adams, j., Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court, Trial Division, “R. v. Leite (F.), 2003 NLSCTD 181”, in CanLII, retrieved 03 Oct 2021:
"Earlier that year Italian Jews had come under serious attack when an incendiary publication, Gli ebrei in Italia (The Jews in Italy), had flooded the bookshops. The author, Paolo Orano, was a Fascist publicist whose book helped to harden Italian public sensibility against the Jews and pave the way for their eventual persecution."
— 2014, Ian Thomson, Primo Levi: A Life, Metropolitan Books, →ISBN, page 123:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The arsonist used an ____ liquid that ignited instantly and caused the fire.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The police discovered several ____ devices that were intended to be used in the planned attack.