tinderbox
pronunciation
How to pronounce tinderbox in British English:
UK [ˈtɪndəbɒks]
How to pronounce tinderbox in American English:
US [ˈtɪndərbɑks]
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- Noun:
- a dangerous state of affairs; a situation that is a potential source of violence
- a box for holding tinder
Word Origin
- tinderbox (n.)
- also tinder-box, "box in which tinder and flint are kept," 1520s, from tinder + box (n.); figurative sense of " 'inflammable' person or thing" is attested from 1590s.
Example
- 1. He took out the tinderbox and the candle .
- 2. Referred to the crowded prison as a tinderbox of suppressed violence .
- 3. Have you got my tinderbox ?
- 4. This shrub is a typical example of a tinderbox perennially in search of a flint .
- 5. He took the money and the tinderbox and went to a town .