noun
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a box used formerly for holding tinder, esp one fitted with a flint and steel
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a person or thing that is particularly touchy or explosive
Etymology
Origin of tinderbox
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.
Appeared in the January 17, 2026, print edition as 'ICE Surge, Protesters Turn Minneapolis Into a Tinderbox'.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 17, 2026
A performance by Tinderbox Orchestra with Kathryn Joseph at St Giles' Cathedral is expected to be one of the highlights.
From BBC • Dec. 28, 2025
This led us to Tinderbox Kitchen, where we had what was undoubtedly the best meal of our whole road trip.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 28, 2023
Tinderbox conditions conducive to the rapid spread of blazes are expected to persist well into next week.
From Washington Post • May 7, 2022
There's Miss Jenny Tinderbox, I once remember her to have had some beauty, and a moderate fortune.
From A Century of English Essays An Anthology Ranging from Caxton to R. L. Stevenson & the Writers of Our Own Time by Rhys, Ernest
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.
