inflammable

From Middle French inflammable, from Medieval Latin īnflammābilis, from Latin īnflammāre (“to set on fire”), from in (“in, on”) + flamma (“flame”). Equivalent to inflame +‎ -able.

• enPR: ĭnʹflăm-ə-bəl, IPA^(key): /ɪnˈflæməbəl/

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inflammable (comparative more inflammable, superlative most inflammable)

1. Capable of burning.

   Synonyms: flammable, combustible

   Antonyms: nonflammable, noninflammable, unflammable, uninflammable; fireproof, incombustible

2. Easily set on fire.

   Synonym: flammable

   Antonyms: nonflammable, noninflammable, unflammable, uninflammable; fireproof, incombustible

   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

     On he went a few paces and touched a second, then a third, and a fourth, till at last we were surrounded on all three sides by a great ring of bodies flaring furiously, the material with which they were preserved having rendered them so inflammable that the flames would literally spout out of the ears and mouth in tongues of fire a foot or more in length.

3. (figuratively) Easily excited; set off by the slightest excuse; easily enraged or inflamed.

   Synonyms: hot-headed, quick to anger

   Antonyms: level-headed, unflappable

4. (nonstandard) Incapable of burning; not easily set on fire.

   Synonyms: nonflammable, noninflammable, unflammable, uninflammable; fireproof, incombustible

   Antonyms: flammable, combustible

• Inflammable is traditionally used to mean "capable of burning" (compare inflame meaning "set on fire"); the term flammable is a more recent back-formation. Recently, comparison with other words where in- means "not" (like inedible and inaccurate) has led to inflammable being used to mean "not flammable". Where confusion might arise, especially where this may be a safety hazard, one may prefer to use flammable or nonflammable, respectively.

inflammable (plural inflammables)

1. Any inflammable substance.

• “inflammable”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “inflammable”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Inherited from Middle French inflammer +‎ -able, from Latin īnflammābilis.

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.fla.mabl/

• Audio (Switzerland):

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• Homophone: inflammables
• Hyphenation: in‧fla‧mmable

inflammable (plural inflammables)

1. flammable, inflammable

   Synonym: enflammable

   Antonym: ininflammable

• inflammabilité

• “inflammable”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.