incendiary

CEFRC2

/ɪnˈsɛn.dɪ.əɹ.i/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

01
adjective
Designed to start fires or cause strong anger.
02
adjective
Extra detail
Intentionally stirring up strife, riot, rebellion.

Examples

Beth Sanders was known for both her incendiary speeches and her fierce writing.
Tom's incendiary rhetoric has no place here.

At a glance

Sits at C2 on the CEFR scale

Senses: 5
Parts of speech: 1
Citations: 5
Synonyms: 2

Also pronounced

/ɪnˈsɛn.di.ɛɹ.i/
/ɪnˈsɛn.djəɹ.i/

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

Of a damaging fire, intentionally caused rather than accidental.
Capable of, or used for, or actually causing fire.
Inflammatory, emotionally charged.

More examples

In context

Tom's incendiary speech kicked the revolution into overdrive.
March 7, 1692, Richard Bentley, The Folly of Atheism Several cities […] drove them out as incendiaries.
Politics is an incendiary topic; it tends to cause fights to break out.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The arsonist used an blank liquid that ignited instantly and caused the fire.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Citations

The word in print, with each source given in full.

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
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
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

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Origin

adjective

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”).

Deep Dive

adjective

More examples

Related

Quick test

The arsonist used an blank— liquid that ignited instantly and caused the fire.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

The arsonist used an blank liquid that ignited instantly and caused the fire.