tinder
Americannoun
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a highly flammable material or preparation formerly used for catching the spark from a flint and steel struck together for fire or light.
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any dry substance that readily takes fire from a spark.
noun
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dry wood or other easily combustible material used for lighting a fire
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anything inflammatory or dangerous
his speech was tinder to the demonstrators' unrest
Other Word Forms
- tindery adjective
Etymology
Origin of tinder
before 900; Middle English; Old English tynder; akin to German Zunder, Old Norse tundr, Old English -tendan (as in ātendan to set on fire), Gothic tundnan to catch fire, German -zünden in entzünden to kindle
Compare meaning
How does tinder compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Tinder is one of the things you need to start a fire — it's the extremely dry stuff, like wood or paper, that catches easily and helps get your fire going. To build a campfire, you need both logs and tinder. You might also call tinder kindling. This material is so dry and flammable that it quickly catches on fire and burns long enough to ignite the larger pieces of wood in your fireplace or outdoor fire pit. The word stems from the Old English tynder, from a Proto-Germanic root meaning "ignite" or "kindle."
Vocabulary lists containing tinder
Inferno Lingo: Fire Vocabulary
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Unit 1: Telling Details
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"Uprising," Vocabulary from the historical novel
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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.
Blankfein added that the long period without a financial crisis cleansing process meant ”you accumulate tinder on the floor of the forest and eventually a spark will come.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 26, 2026
The Cowork plug-ins were like a match on dry tinder.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 5, 2026
Neither side is sitting still—and the steps they are taking to shore up their longer-term resilience will likely provide tinder for flare-ups.
From Barron's • Nov. 17, 2025
In the lead-up to the Palisades and Eaton fires this month, the intense dryness kept vegetation tinder dry — a recipe for disaster when combined with strong Santa Ana winds and an ignition.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 31, 2025
It was crowded with abandoned quills, a rusty tinder box, and a few coins and pound notes, which I was sore tempted to take.
From "Chains" by Laurie Halse Anderson
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.
