matchstick
Americannoun
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a short, slender piece of flammable wood used in making matches.
-
something that suggests a matchstick, as in thinness or fragility.
noun
adjective
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made with or as if with matchsticks
a matchstick model
-
(esp of figures drawn with single strokes) thin and straight
matchstick men
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of matchstick
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:
This weekend, LS Lowry will also be added to the list when a new, free immersive experience brings his trademark matchstick men to life at Salford's Lowry arts centre.
From BBC ● May 1, 2025
Over and over again, they stretch out their spindly little matchstick fingers into the mighty Pacific, and over and over again, they get their knuckles rapped.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2024
Each of the 706,900 matchsticks he glued together brought the Frenchman one step closer toward his dream: achieving a world record for building the tallest matchstick sculpture.
From New York Times ● Feb. 9, 2024
“Walk Ventura’s beaches and, in the distance, it wavers like a child’s matchstick project,” the bureau states on its website.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 1, 2024
She was already tapping her matchstick in waltz time.
From "Secrets at Sea" by Richard Peck
The first is a savory dip for vegetables — lately carrot and cucumber matchsticks or sugar snap peas.
From Salon ● Mar. 9, 2026
In the fires, palms went up with a whoosh, like matchsticks in hell.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2025
Dark grey ash blankets the ground on hills encircling Varnavas, while pine trees have taken on the appearance of used matchsticks.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2024
But in late January, weeks after he finished the replica, Guinness World Records officials delivered devastating news: His Eiffel Tower was disqualified for being built with the wrong type of matchsticks.
From New York Times ● Feb. 9, 2024
He and his sister mimic the Frenchman’s experiments; they make speedboats out of matchsticks and magnets out of sewing needles.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
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.
