combustible [kuh m-buhs -tuh -buh l]
Examples Word Origin
See more synonyms for combustible on Thesaurus.com capable of catching fire and burning; inflammable; flammable: Gasoline vapor is highly combustible. easily excited: a high-strung, combustible nature. Show More
a combustible substance: Trucks carrying combustibles will not be allowed to use this tunnel. Show More
Origin of combustible From the
Late Latin word
combūstibilis, dating back to
1520–30. See
combust ,
-ible Related forms com·bus·ti·bil·i·ty , com·bus·ti·ble·ness , noun com·bus·ti·bly , adverb un·com·bus·ti·ble , adjective Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words for combustible incendiary ,
volatile ,
flammable ,
fiery ,
kindling ,
explosive ,
firing ,
inflammable ,
burnable ,
combustive ,
ignitable Examples from the Web for combustible Contemporary Examples of combustible This means not offering provocative remarks on a combustible topic like immigration, which is sure to make them enemies.
Children have fantasy lives so rich and combustible that rigging them with lies is like putting a propeller on a rocket.
This combustible brew of race, class, and economic anxieties bubbles all too closely to the surface.
The mix of al Qaeda in the Maghreb, Ansar al Dine, and the Tuareg rebels is combustible .
It runs on combustible poison—ammonia and pressurized hydrogen.
Historical Examples of combustible In half an hour, the huts were stripped of their most combustible material.
The other gas which issues into this atmosphere is said to be the combustible gas.
"Well, Tom, we'll try and get some combustible or other," said Paganel.
Almost every man's and every woman's imagination is combustible on one side or another.
I know that there are combustible materials there, and that they wait the torch only.
British Dictionary definitions for combustible capable of igniting and burning easily annoyed; excitable Show More
Derived Forms combustibility or combustibleness , noun combustibly , adverb Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for combustible adj. 1520s, from Middle French combustible , or directly from Late Latin combustibilis , from Latin combustus , past participle of combuere "to burn up, consume" (see combustion ). Figurative sense is from 1640s; as a noun, from 1680s. Related: Combustibility (late 15c.).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
combustible [kəm-bŭs′ tə-bəl]
Capable of igniting and burning. Show More
A substance that ignites and burns readily. Show More
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
