combustible
/kəm'bʌstəbl/
Definition
Adjective:
- Capable of igniting and burning: Describes a material or substance that can easily catch fire and burn.
- Easily excited or aroused: Describes a person or situation that is volatile or easily provoked into strong emotion or conflict.
Noun:
- A substance that can be burned to provide heat or power: A material, such as wood, coal, or gasoline, that is used as fuel.
Examples of Usage
- Adjective:
- Gasoline is highly combustible and must be stored away from heat sources.
- The political situation in the region is combustible, with tensions rising daily.
- Noun:
- The factory switched to a cleaner-burning combustible to reduce emissions.
- Coal was the primary combustible used during the Industrial Revolution.
Advanced Usage
- "Combustible mixture": A mixture of air and fuel that can ignite, often used in engines.
- The engine failed because the combustible mixture was too rich.
- In a figurative sense: Used to describe a highly emotional or volatile personality.
- His combustible temper made him difficult to work with.
Variants and Related Words
- Combustibility (n): The quality of being able to catch fire and burn.
- The combustibility of the material was tested in the lab.
- Incombustible (adj): Not capable of being burned; fireproof.
- Asbestos was once valued for being incombustible.
Synonyms
- Adjective (for materials): Flammable, inflammable, ignitable.
- Adjective (for people/situations): Volatile, explosive, fiery.
- Noun: Fuel, propellant.
Related Phrases
- Combustible liquid: A liquid with a flash point at or below a certain temperature, making it easy to ignite.
- Regulations require special containers for transporting combustible liquids.
- Spontaneous combustion: The ignition of a substance caused by its own internal chemical reaction, without an external heat source.
- The pile of oily rags was a risk for spontaneous combustion.
Idioms
- A combustible situation: A scenario that is very tense and likely to erupt into conflict or violence.
- Mixing those two rival groups created a combustible situation.
Adjective
-
capable of igniting and burning
Noun
-
a substance that can be burned to provide heat or power
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