Definition

1. Noun:
   • A device for starting a fire or causing ignition: An "igniter" is a tool or component designed to produce a spark or flame to light fuel, explosives, or a fire.
   • A substance used to start a fire: An "igniter" can also refer to a chemical or material that is easily set alight to ignite something else.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • The grill's electronic igniter makes starting it very easy.
  • The rocket's failure was traced to a faulty solid propellant igniter.
  • He used a small piece of magnesium as an igniter for the campfire.

Advanced Usage

• Technical Context: In engineering, an "igniter" often refers to a precise component in systems like internal combustion engines, fireworks, or aerospace propulsion.
  • The technician replaced the faulty spark plug, which acts as the engine's igniter.
• Figurative Use: Rarely, it can be used metaphorically for a person or event that sparks a process or conflict.
  • His inflammatory speech was the igniter for the protests.

Variants and Related Words

• Ignite (verb): To set on fire; to cause to burn.
  • A spark can ignite the gas.
• Ignition (noun): The action of setting something on fire or starting to burn; the mechanism for starting combustion in an engine.
  • Turn the key in the ignition.
• Ignitable/Ignitible (adjective): Capable of being set on fire.
  • Gasoline is highly ignitable.

Synonyms

• Lighter: A device, typically handheld, for lighting cigarettes or fires.
• Fuse: A cord or material designed to burn slowly to ignite an explosive.
• Kindling: Material for starting a fire (though this is the material itself, not a device).
• Primer: A substance that prepares a fuel to ignite more easily.

Related Phrases

• Pilot light: A small, continuously burning gas flame used to ignite a main burner.
• Spark plug: A device in an engine that produces a spark to ignite the fuel-air mixture.

Idioms

No common idioms are directly formed with the word "igniter".

Noun

1. a device for lighting or igniting fuel or charges or fires
   • do you have a light?
2. a substance used to ignite or kindle a fire