matchstick

[ mach-stik ]

/ ˈmætʃˌstɪk /

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noun

a short, slender piece of flammable wood used in making matches.

something that suggests a matchstick, as in thinness or fragility.

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His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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Origin of matchstick

First recorded in 1785–95; match¹ + stick¹

Words nearby matchstick

matchmaker, matchmark, match plate, match play, match point, matchstick, match-up, matchwood, matchy-matchy, mate, matelassé

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

How to use matchstick in a sentence

The trees looked like matchsticks, and many of the trees had blown down on the main road.
What You Missed: See What 100-Mile-Per-Hour Winds Did to Trees in Taos|Fred Dreier|December 17, 2021|Outside Online
In bed with the two of them, we fit together like matchsticks, and Manny snored, loudly, so I buried my ears in Jae’s chest.
‘When the Rain Stops:’ a New Short Story by Bryan Washington|Bryan Washington|April 16, 2021|Time
The green matchsticks, placed at varying heights for topographic effect, served as a metaphor for trees.
The Story Behind TIME's 'Climate Is Everything' Cover|D.W. Pine|April 15, 2021|Time
Now It’s the Climate’s TurnRed designed the dimensions and positions for the matchsticks on a computer, laser cut the holes onto a board and then began the painstaking task of inserting each one by hand.
The Story Behind TIME's 'Climate Is Everything' Cover|D.W. Pine|April 15, 2021|Time

Options are available as it allows for 30 different vegetable cuts, including julienne, matchstick, dice and slicing.
These pieces of kitchen gear make excellent gifts|PopSci Commerce Team|October 6, 2020|Popular-Science
Two small openings roughly equal to the diameter of a matchstick are left for urination and menstruation respectively.
Why Are American Doctors Mutilating Girls?|Ayaan Hirsi Ali|May 20, 2010|DAILY BEAST
Turning sidewise, the boat lifted like a matchstick on the crest of a giant wave and spun dizzily down into the trough.
The Spell of the White Sturgeon|James Arthur Kjelgaard
There were several small matchstick size fragments of rib within the pleural cavity.
Warren Commission (4 of 26): Hearings Vol. IV (of 15)|The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy
He rose up suddenly in the chair, pointing a long matchstick finger into Wyatt's face.
The Book|Michael Shaara
He waved the smoking matchstick to imply virtues in Wheaton which it was unnecessary to mention.
The Main Chance|Meredith Nicholson
One pier of a concrete bridge, erected two years before,256 which spans Silver and Porter Streets, cracked off like a matchstick.
The True Story of Our National Calamity of Flood, Fire and Tornado|Logan Marshall

British Dictionary definitions for matchstick

matchstick

/ (ˈmætʃˌstɪk) /

noun

the wooden part of a match

adjective

made with or as if with matchsticksa matchstick model

(esp of figures drawn with single strokes) thin and straightmatchstick men

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