pyrokinesis

American  

[pahy-roh-ki-nee-sis, -kahy-] / ˌpaɪ roʊ kɪˈni sɪs, -kaɪ- /

noun

1. the ability to set objects or people on fire through the concentration of psychic power.

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Other Word Forms

• pyrokinetic adjective

Etymology

Origin of pyrokinesis

pyro- + (tele)kinesis

Example Sentences

Stephen King’s 1980 novel about Charlie McGee, a girl with pyrokinesis — the ability to start fires with her mind — has proved fertile to the cinematic imagination.

From Washington Post

Legion, has within him multiple personalities of various sexes and widely variant temperaments, and each of those personalities possess a superpower: pyrokinesis, telekinesis, telepathy, etc.

From Los Angeles Times

Ailey offers a half-dozen, whose works span half a century, including this time around Ailey's masterpiece "Revelations," celebrating its 50th anniversary, along with works by George Faison, Camille A. Brown and Christopher Huggins, whose "Pyrokinesis" wowed Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago audiences a while back.

From Chicago Tribune

King dubs this inflammatory forte "pyrokinesis," a combination of the Greek words meaning fire and movement.

From Time Magazine Archive

The drug has changed both parents' chromosomal structure; it is this mutation, not convincingly explained by King, that has produced Charlie's pyrokinesis.

From Time Magazine Archive