combustible
Americanadjective
-
capable of catching fire and burning; inflammable; flammable.
Gasoline vapor is highly combustible.
-
easily excited.
a high-strung, combustible nature.
noun
adjective
-
capable of igniting and burning
-
easily annoyed; excitable
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of combustible
From the Late Latin word combūstibilis, dating back to 1520–30. See combust, -ible
Explanation
Combustible means "able to catch fire," like matches or the extremely dry forest floors that people sometimes forget are combustible — until they go up in flames. When the adjective combustible first entered the English language in the sixteenth century, it was used to describe things that burn easily. The word soon came to apply not only to objects that ignite but also to tempers that are prone to "catch fire" easily. If you’ve ever been around a person who has a combustible temper, you can understand the connection.
Vocabulary lists containing combustible
Automobiles
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100 Great Words from "Fahrenheit 451" -- Part I Vocabulary
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The Great Fire
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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.
Appeared in the October 3, 2025, print edition as 'Daniel Day-Lewis’s Combustible Return'.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 2, 2025
Combustible relationships with family members and business colleagues risked turning him into New York City’s second-most-famous tabloid billionaire.
From New York Times • Jan. 7, 2022
Combustible cladding is the major cause of the building safety crisis now affecting millions of flat owners.
From BBC • Feb. 9, 2021
Combustible materials used to refurbish Grenfell were central to the chain of events in June 2017 that turned an ordinary kitchen fire into an inferno, an official inquiry said last month.
From Reuters • Nov. 11, 2019
Combustible natural products inevitably make themselves noticed, as when a resinous log explodes in a campfire.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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.
