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inflammable

[ in-flam-uh-buhl ]
/ ɪnˈflæm ə bəl /
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adjective
capable of being set on fire; combustible; flammable.
easily aroused or excited, as to passion or anger; irascible: an inflammable disposition.
noun
something inflammable.
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Origin of inflammable

1595–1605; <Medieval Latin inflammābilis, equivalent to Latin inflammā(re) to inflame + -bilis-ble

words often confused with inflammable

Inflammable and flammable both mean “combustible.” Inflammable is the older by about 200 years. Flammable now has certain technical uses, particularly as a warning on vehicles carrying combustible materials, because of a belief that some might interpret the intensive prefix in- of inflammable as a negative prefix and thus think the word means “noncombustible.” Inflammable is the word more usually used in nontechnical and figurative contexts: The speaker ignited the inflammable emotions of the crowd.

OTHER WORDS FROM inflammable

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH inflammable

inflammable , inflammatory
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use inflammable in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for inflammable

inflammable
/ (ɪnˈflæməbəl) /

adjective
liable to catch fire; flammable
readily aroused to anger or passion
noun
something that is liable to catch fire

Derived forms of inflammable

inflammability or inflammableness, nouninflammably, adverb

undefined inflammable

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
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