pyrokinesis

American  

[pahy-roh-ki-nee-sis, -kahy-] / ˌpaɪ roʊ kɪˈni sɪs, -kaɪ- /

noun

1. the ability to set objects or people on fire through the concentration of psychic power.

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Other Word Forms

• pyrokinetic adjective

Etymology

Origin of pyrokinesis

pyro- + (tele)kinesis

Example Sentences

Stephen King’s 1980 novel about Charlie McGee, a girl with pyrokinesis — the ability to start fires with her mind — has proved fertile to the cinematic imagination.

From Washington Post • May 5, 2022

Legion, has within him multiple personalities of various sexes and widely variant temperaments, and each of those personalities possess a superpower: pyrokinesis, telekinesis, telepathy, etc.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 4, 2016

The drug has changed both parents' chromosomal structure; it is this mutation, not convincingly explained by King, that has produced Charlie's pyrokinesis.

From Time Magazine Archive

King dubs this inflammatory forte "pyrokinesis," a combination of the Greek words meaning fire and movement.

From Time Magazine Archive