arsonist
Americannoun
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
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"We Are Many" by Pablo Neruda
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The Summer of Bitter and Sweet
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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.
The revelations — unveiled in a criminal complaint and attached affidavit Wednesday charging the alleged arsonist, Jonathan Rinderknecht — raise questions about what the Los Angeles Fire Department could have done to prevent the conflagration.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 24, 2026
The one damaged by an arsonist in the fall of 2024 shortly after a multimillion-dollar refurbishment?
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 22, 2026
Once again, he is both arsonist and fireman.
From Salon • Oct. 31, 2025
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’d grown up being called a freak, an arsonist, because whenever he got angry, things burned.
From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan
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.
