combustible

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English

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Etymology

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From Middle French combustible, equivalent to combust +‎ -ible.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /kəmˈbʌstɪbəl/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Hyphenation: com‧bust‧i‧ble

Adjective

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combustible (comparative more combustible, superlative most combustible)

  1. Capable of burning.
    Synonyms: flammable; inflammable (in one of its contranymic senses)
    Hyponym: flammable
    Antonyms: incombustible, noncombustible; nonflammable, noninflammable, unflammable; inflammable (in one of its contranymic senses), fireproof, refractory
    Coordinate terms: fire-resistant, fire-retardant, flame-retardant
    Dumping fertilizer on top of whatever mysterious goop was in the storage tank created a combustible mix which caught fire.
    • 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:
      Sin is to the soul like fire to combustible matter.
    • 2023 March 22, “Network News: Class 175s withdrawn for safety checks after fires”, in RAIL, number 979, page 13:
      The rest were undergoing special underbody cleaning safety checks at TfW depots, after speculation that the cause of the incidents may have been a build-up of engine oil and combustible material such as fallen leaves and general detritus.
  2. (figurative, dated) Easily kindled or excited; quick; fiery; irascible.
    Antonyms: incombustible, noncombustible
    • 1855–1859, Washington Irving, The Life of George Washington:
      Arnold, however, was a combustible character.
    • 2022 October 26, Cade Metz, Adam Satariano, Chang Che, “How Elon Musk Became a Geopolitical Chaos Agent”, in The New York Times[1], →ISSN:
      The world’s richest man has inserted himself in some of the world’s most combustible conflicts.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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combustible (plural combustibles)

  1. A material that is capable of burning.
    • 1890, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 2, page 248:
      A wheel, wrapt in combustibles, was kindled and rolled down the hill.

Translations

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Catalan

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Pronunciation

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Adjective

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combustible m or f (masculine and feminine plural combustibles)

  1. combustible

Noun

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combustible m (plural combustibles)

  1. combustible, fuel
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Further reading

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French

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Etymology

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From combustion +‎ -ible.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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combustible m (plural combustibles)

  1. combustible

Adjective

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combustible (plural combustibles)

  1. combustible

Further reading

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Spanish

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /kombusˈtible/ [kõm.busˈt̪i.β̞le]
  • Rhymes: -ible
  • Syllabification: com‧bus‧ti‧ble

Adjective

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combustible m or f (masculine and feminine plural combustibles)

  1. combustible

Noun

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combustible m (plural combustibles)

  1. fuel

Derived terms

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Further reading

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