inflammable
[ in-flam-uh-buhl ]
/ ɪnˈflæm ə bəl /
adjective
capable of being set on fire; combustible; flammable.
easily aroused or excited, as to passion or anger; irascible: an inflammable disposition.
noun
something inflammable.
Origin of inflammable
usage note for inflammable
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 WORDS FROM inflammable
WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH inflammable
inflammable inflammatoryWords nearby inflammable
Example sentences from the Web for inflammable
British Dictionary definitions for inflammable
inflammable
/ (ɪnˈflæməbəl) /
adjective
liable to catch fire; flammable
readily aroused to anger or passion
noun
something that is liable to catch fire
Derived forms of inflammable
inflammability or inflammableness, noun inflammably, adverbundefined inflammable
See
flammable