Word
flammable
US/ˈfɫæməbəɫ/
UK/flˈæməbəl/
Definitions
01catching fire easily
adj. describes something that catches fire very easily and burns quickly.
adj. capable of being easily ignited and of burning quickly.
“Be careful with that liquid because it is highly flammable near a stove.”
“The safety inspector noted that the warehouse stored several highly flammable solvents without adequate ventilation or fire suppression systems.”
Usage
Often used with adverbs like 'highly', 'extremely', or 'potentially'.
Pitfall
The sign said 'unflammable' materials.
The sign said 'non-flammable' materials.
The opposite of flammable is 'non-flammable'. Note that 'inflammable' means the same thing as 'flammable', which can be confusing.
Synonyms
Antonyms
03dangerous substances
n. a substance or material that can catch fire easily.
n. any substance or material that is easily ignited.
“The truck was carrying flammables and had to follow a special route.”
“Regulations require that all flammables be stored in reinforced cabinets away from primary exit routes.”
Technical
Usage
Usually used in the plural form 'flammables' in industrial or safety contexts.
Synonyms
Real-World Examples
“There's a lot homeowners can do to prepare for wildfires, such as managing flammable plants and using fire-resistant building materials.” “Like oil lanterns, they were dangerous, primarily because they relied on an open flame and produced highly flammable acetylene gas.” Etymology
Back-formation from inflammable, which is used to avoid confusion with non-flammable, as the prefix in- is often used to mean "un-; non-", although it was originally meant in a sense closely related to en-.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Related words
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/flammable