tinder

plural tinders

1. countableuncountableSmall dry sticks and finely-divided fibrous matter etc., used to help light a fire.

   Strike on the Tinder, hoa: / Giue me a Taper: […]

   c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 311, line 157

present singular third person tinders · participle present tindering · participle past tindered · past tindered

1. transitiveTo set fire to; torch.

   Is heaven a murderer when its lightning strikes a would-be murderer in his bed, tindering sheets and skin together?

   1851 November 14, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC

plural Tinders

1. A surname.

1. An online dating and geosocial networking application, launched in 2012, in which users "swipe right" to like or "swipe left" to dislike other users' profiles.

   Famously, Tinder gamified the search for love, introducing that addictive swipe feature to its target audience: millennials.

   2025 May 10, Lulu Garcia-Navarro, “‘The Interview’: Can Whitney Wolfe Herd Make Us Love Dating Apps Again?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 10 May 2025

   1 more example

   So sure, she’s a romantic, but quite a pragmatic one. “I was just thinking, ‘You know what? I’ve had shit luck with boys. I’ll try Tinder, Bumble and Love Island.’”

   2022 October 15, Zoe Williams, “Love Island winner Ekin-Su on sex, spin-offs and surgery: ‘I’ve not had anything major done. OK, apart from the boobs’”, in The Guardian

present singular third person Tinders · participle present Tindering · participle past Tindered · past Tindered · alternative tinder

1. intransitivesocial mediaTo use the dating application Tinder.

   There is a time to Tinder—sometimes it's a great escape, a great delight, a time of needed, almost medicinal, connection. Sometimes it even yields real, loving, and joyous relationships. And, there is a time to refrain from Tindering.

   2021 August 17, Merissa Nathan Gerson, Forget Prayers, Bring Cake: A Single Woman's Guide to Grieving, Mandala Publishing, →ISBN, page 64

   2 more examples

   I haven't been Tindering or doing the Plenty of Fish thing in quite some time because I've been seeing Date #2, and he's lovely. […] I'm not Tindering or frequenting POF because my heart still belongs to him, but up pops a message on the Friday night.

   2016 March 7, Khaley Fenn, edited by Alexandria Santamaria, Swipe Right, FriesenPress, →ISBN

   With Tinder, the pretext is to hook-up, but the real pleasure is derived from the Tindering process. […] Summing up the Tindering experience, Tinderers would rather judge 50 pictures in two minutes than spend 50 minutes assessing one potential partner in a traditional face-on-face dating environment.

   2017 September 29, Tim Delaney, Tim Madigan, “4. Electronic Friendships”, in Friendship and Happiness And the Connection Between the Two, McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers, →ISBN, page 147