pyromaniac

American  

[pahy-ruh-mey-nee-ak] / ˌpaɪ rəˈmeɪ niˌæk /

noun

1. someone with a compulsion to set things on fire.

   One theory is that pyromaniacs simply love fires and the damage they cause, and so they start them.

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Other Word Forms

• pyromaniacal adjective

Etymology

Origin of pyromaniac

pyromani(a) ( def. ) + -ac ( def. )

Example Sentences

Booker Prize is about a “social pyromaniac” who tries to save his California town by resegregating it.

From Washington Post

“Why don’t you stand down and let somebody else take over? We can’t let the pyromaniac put out the fire in the Netherlands.”

From Washington Times

Pompeo reportedly planned to stop in Luxembourg on Thursday, but the meeting fell through after the country’s foreign minister called Trump a “political pyromaniac” and a “criminal” for inciting the rioters at the Capitol.

From Washington Post

Capitol by Trump supporters seeking to overturn the results of the Nov. 3 U.S. election, Asselborn had called Trump a “criminal” and a “political pyromaniac” on RTL Radio the next day.

From Reuters

As I've written in these years, they rather literally transformed themselves into pyromaniacs even as they imagined unleashing, as the president proudly put it, "American energy dominance."

From Salon