matchstick
Americannoun
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matchsticks
plural
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a short, slender piece of flammable wood used in making matches.
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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:
A French model-enthusiast who wanted to beat the world record for a matchstick Eiffel Tower has had his hopes dashed.
From BBC ● Feb. 7, 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
The wood structure looked precarious, as if a wind gust could blow it down like a matchstick house.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 25, 2022
The tidy grid of streets around it, laid out in the 1820s, now cuts through matchstick heaps of disorder.
From New York Times ● Dec. 16, 2021
A mouse of a certain age strode up with the aid of a matchstick cane, gold-topped.
From "Secrets at Sea" by Richard Peck
Arrange the matchsticks in a single layer—no stacking—so they don’t stick together.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
The first is a savory dip for vegetables — lately carrot and cucumber matchsticks or sugar snap peas.
From Salon ● Mar. 9, 2026
I would bet matchsticks that they will be joined by at least one additional regular — probably a funny one.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 23, 2026
The trees still standing are charred and warped like burnt matchsticks.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2024
The ladders that rose from one level of scaffold to the next had all the substance of matchsticks and imparted to the structure an aura of fragility.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
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.
