arsonist
Americannoun
-
arsonists
plural
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of arsonist
Explanation
An arsonist is someone who deliberately sets houses on fire. Investigators who find empty gas cans near the scene of a blaze tend to suspect an arsonist is responsible. Arsonists destroy property by burning it; that can mean setting fire to buildings, boats, cars, or forested land. An arsonist's motives can include collecting insurance money after burning their own property — or violent revenge, by burning someone else's. The crime they're committing is arson, which is usually a felony because it's so destructive and dangerous. The Latin root of arsonist means "to burn."
Vocabulary lists containing arsonist
The Great Fire
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
"We Are Many" by Pablo Neruda
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
The Summer of Bitter and Sweet
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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.
See Examples For:
Indeed, Mark Zuckerberg offering Instagram-specific screen-time reports and time limits has the whiff of an arsonist handing out firefighting tips.
From Slate ● Sep. 5, 2025
He became the arsonist who laid claim to being the heroic firefighter.
From Salon ● Jun. 26, 2025
“He likes to play arsonist and firefighter,” Carbajal said in an interview.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2025
A would-be arsonist explains himself — his motive: boredom — as slashing guitars scrape against the mechanized thump of a Roland drum machine.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 9, 2024
He’d grown up being called a freak, an arsonist, because whenever he got angry, things burned.
From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan
Farinacci had been struggling since the birth of his son in May 2025, according to the affidavit, and became fascinated with fires and arsonists.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
His government banned construction on land affected by the blazes, and pledged harsher penalties for arsonists.
From Barron's ● Oct. 11, 2025
He bragged of catching more than 40 serial arsonists, and explored their methods and psychology in articles for American Fire Journal.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 29, 2025
That has not stopped idle speculation that the Palisades had been targeted by arsonists to bring down the area’s richest neighborhoods, or that angry arsonists had started all the fires.
From Salon ● Jan. 13, 2025
These different features are then arranged so that a great variety of clergymen, murderers, senators, embezzlers, artists, dynamiters, humorists, arsonists, larcenists, poets, statesmen, base ball players, rinkists, pianists, capitalists, bigamists and sluggists are easily represented.
From Remarks by Bill Nye
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.
