tinderbox
English · Thesaurus
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tinderbox¹
Where it comes from
From tinder + box, first use appears c. 1530, in the writings of John Palsgrave.
noun tinderboxes · tinder-box · tinder box
- A small container containing flint, steel, and tinder (dry, finely-divided fibrous matter), once used to help kindle a fire. Haines helped himself and snapped the case to. He put it back in his sidepocket and took from his waistcoatpocket a nickel tinderbox, sprang it open too, and, having lit his cigarette, held the flaming spunk towards Stephen in the shell of his hands.
- A place that is so dry and hot that there is danger of fire. And then came the night that made America famous / Was it carelessness or someone's sick idea of a joke? / In the tinderbox trap that we hippies lived in, someone struck a spark
-
A potentially dangerous situation.
This act was the "match that ignited the great tinderbox of fuel" that had been building for years between many of the countries in Europe.
Similar: powder keg, powderkeg, powder magazine
Tinderbox²
proper noun
- A suburb of Kingborough council area, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
Translations
Every language
noun small container containing flint, steel, and tinder
| Español | yesquero, caja de la yesca |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 부시쌈지 busissamji |
| 日本語 | 火口箱 hokuchibako |
| 中文 | 打火匣 dǎhuǒxiá, 火絨盒 /火绒盒 |
| Français | briquet, boîte d'amadou |
| Deutsch | Zunderbüchse, Feuerzeug |
| Română | bricheta |
| Русский | огни́во ognívo, креса́ло kresálo |
noun potentially dangerous situation
| Español | polvorín |
|---|---|
| 中文 | 火藥桶 /火药桶 huǒyào tǒng |
| Français | poudrière |
| Deutsch | Pulverfass |
| Italiano | polveriera |
| Русский | порохова́я бо́чка poroxovája bóčka |
Talk about this word "tinderbox." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/tinderbox. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. tinderbox. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/tinderbox "tinderbox." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/tinderbox.Cite this
@misc{tinderbox_2026,
title = {tinderbox},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/tinderbox},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
