flamethrower
Noun: 1. A portable weapon that projects a controllable stream of burning liquid fuel: A flamethrower is a device designed to propel a jet of ignited flammable liquid, typically used in warfare or for controlled burning in agriculture or industry.
The word "flamethrower" is used to describe the specific weapon or tool. It functions as a countable noun. * The infantry unit was equipped with flamethrowers to clear enemy bunkers. * Using a flamethrower requires extensive safety training due to the extreme hazard.
- Historical accounts describe the terrifying use of the flamethrower in trench warfare.
- The soldier operated the flamethrower from a safe distance.
- (Metaphorical) The critic's review was a verbal flamethrower, utterly destroying the author's arguments.
- The term can be used metaphorically to describe a person, statement, or force that is intensely destructive, aggressive, or inflammatory in a non-literal sense.
- The politician acted as a flamethrower during the debate, inciting anger with every comment.
- Flame projector: A less common, more technical synonym.
- Flaming: (Adjective) Being on fire. (e.g., ).
- Thrower: (Noun) One who or that which throws. This is the agent noun component of the compound word.
- Incendiary device (broader category)
- Fire projector
The core meaning is always tied to a device that projects burning fuel. While modern military use is rare, the word remains strongly associated with 20th-century warfare. Its metaphorical use derives directly from the weapon's destructive and uncontrollable nature.
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a weapon that squirts ignited fuel for several yards