incendiary

comparative more incendiary · superlative most incendiary

1. Capable of, or used for, or actually causing fire.

   We saw photographs of bodies riddled with pellets from fragmentation bombs or charred by incendiary weapons (besides napalm, the Americans also drop white phosphorus, Thermit, and magnesium on the Vietnamese).

   1969, Susan Sontag, “Trip to Hanoi”, in Styles of Radical Will, Kindle edition, Penguin Modern Classics, published 2009, →ISBN, page 246

   2 more examples

   Driving 2-6-2 locomotive No. 4771 Green Arrow, Blunt suddenly noticed that the tunnel mouth was silhouetted in a dazzling white glare and that incendiary bombs were showering down in their hundreds, he slammed on all his brakes and brought his train to a stop just inside the tunnel.

   1944 July and August, “Top Link Drivers: XXI—Driver H. Blunt, L.N.E.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 226

   Blast after blast, fiery outbreak after fiery outbreak, like a flaming barrage from within,[…]most of Edison's grounds soon became an inferno. As though on an incendiary rampage, the fires systematically devoured the contents of Edison's headquarters and facilities.

   2006, Edwin Black, chapter 1, in Internal Combustion

2. engineeringOf a damaging fire, intentionally caused rather than accidental.

   The Crown must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the fire was incendiary in origin; that is, it was not accidental and that it was either intentionally or recklessly set by the accused.

   2003 December 18, Adams, j., Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court, Trial Division, “R. v. Leite (F.), 2003 NLSCTD 181”, in CanLII, retrieved 03 Oct 2021

3. figurativelyIntentionally stirring up strife, riot, rebellion.

   1 more example

   Earlier that year Italian Jews had come under serious attack when an incendiary publication, Gli ebrei in Italia (The Jews in Italy), had flooded the bookshops. The author, Paolo Orano, was a Fascist publicist whose book helped to harden Italian public sensibility against the Jews and pave the way for their eventual persecution.

   2014, Ian Thomson, Primo Levi: A Life, Metropolitan Books, →ISBN, page 123

4. figurativelyInflammatory, emotionally charged.

   Politics is an incendiary topic; it tends to cause fights to break out.

plural incendiaries

1. Something capable of causing fire, particularly a weapon.

   The military used incendiaries to destroy the building. Fortunately, the fire didn't spread.

2. One who maliciously sets fires.

   Synonyms: arsonist

3. figurativelyOne who excites or inflames factions into quarrels.

   March 7, 1692, Richard Bentley, The Folly of Atheism Several cities […] drove them out as incendiaries.

   Synonyms: agitator