adjective
-
liable to catch fire; flammable
-
readily aroused to anger or passion
noun
Commonly Confused
Inflammable and flammable both mean “combustible.” Inflammable is the older by about 200 years. Flammable now has certain technical uses, particularly as a warning on vehicles carrying combustible materials, because of a belief that some might interpret the intensive prefix in- of inflammable as a negative prefix and thus think the word means “noncombustible.” Inflammable is the word more usually used in nontechnical and figurative contexts: The speaker ignited the inflammable emotions of the crowd.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of inflammable
1595–1605; < Medieval Latin inflammābilis, equivalent to Latin inflammā ( re ) to inflame + -bilis -ble
Explanation
Something that is inflammable can be set on fire easily. You dared not light a match after you accidentally spilled gasoline on yourself because you knew you were inflammable. Inflammable can be a tricky word, since the in- prefix often means "not." But in this case, the in- isn't really a prefix, because the word is built from the verb inflame which means "to set on fire." Some inflammable things might literally go up in flames, but we also use it metaphorically. Someone with a quick temper could be described as "inflammable," and if you fall in love easily, then you have an inflammable heart.
Vocabulary lists containing inflammable
Commonly Confused Words, List 5
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fla, flam (flame)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In addition, they contain no easily inflammable liquids.
From Science Daily • Oct. 23, 2023
The president's remarks are meant to calm a potentially inflammable atmosphere in Nanterre, near the La Défense business district, and other Paris suburbs, where the killing of Nahel has triggered strong emotions.
From BBC • Jun. 28, 2023
“This is not normal, of course. This is a very volatile, very inflammable situation,” said Artyom Shraibman, founder of Sense Analytics and a Belarus analyst with the Carnegie Moscow Center think tank.
From Washington Post • Nov. 17, 2021
Four of the factory owner’s sons and three company officials were also arrested over the fire at the factory, where chemicals and inflammable materials were stored.
From Reuters • Jul. 10, 2021
Adams let out the word that Jefferson was clearly the voters’ choice and the superior man, that Burr was “like a balloon, filled with inflammable air.”
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
