combustible

English

Etymology

From Middle French combustible.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kəmˈbʌstɪbəl/

Adjective

combustible (comparative more combustible, superlative most combustible)

1. Capable of burning.

   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, 6th edition, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] J[ames] Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, […], published 1727, →OCLC:

     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   • 2023 March 22, “Network News: Class 175s withdrawn for safety checks after fires”, in RAIL, number 979, page 13: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.
   • 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.

Antonyms

• incombustible

Related terms

• combust
• combustibility
• combustion

Translations

capable of burning

• Bulgarian: запалим (bg) (zapalim), възпламеним (bg) (vǎzplamenim)
• Catalan: combustible (ca)
• Czech: hořlavý (cs)
• Finnish: syttyvä (fi)
• Galician: combustible (gl), combustíbel (gl)
• German: brennbar (de), verbrennbar
• Hungarian: gyúlékony (hu)
• Japanese: 可燃性の (kanensei no)
• Manx: so-ghreesaghey, yn-lostey
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: brennbar

  Nynorsk: brennbar

• Portuguese: combustível (pt)
• Russian: воспламеня́емый (ru) (vosplamenjájemyj), воспламеня́ющийся (ru) (vosplamenjájuščijsja)
• Spanish: combustible (es)
• Swedish: brännbar (sv)
• Tagalog: maliyab

Noun

combustible (plural combustibles)

1. A material that is capable of burning.

Translations

material capable of burning

• Bulgarian: горивен материал (goriven material)
• Catalan: combustible (ca) m
• Finnish: syttyvä aine
• French: combustible (fr) m
• Galician: combustible (gl) m, combustíbel (gl) m
• German: Brennstoff (de) m
• Japanese: 可燃物 (ja) (kanenbutsu)
• Portuguese: combustível (pt) m
• Russian: то́пливо (ru) n (tóplivo)
• Spanish: combustible (es) m
• Tagalog: liyabin

Catalan

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /kom.busˈti.blə/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /kum.busˈti.blə/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /kom.busˈti.ble/

Adjective

combustible (masculine and feminine plural combustibles)

1. combustible

Noun

combustible m (plural combustibles)

1. combustible, fuel

Related terms

• combustió

Further reading

• “combustible” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “combustible”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2023
• “combustible” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “combustible” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

From combustion +‎ -ible.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.bys.tibl/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

combustible m (plural combustibles)

1. combustible

Adjective

combustible (plural combustibles)

1. combustible

Further reading

• “combustible”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Spanish

Pronunciation

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

Adjective

combustible (plural combustibles)

1. combustible

Noun

combustible m (plural combustibles)

1. fuel

Derived terms

• agrocombustible
• combustible fósil

 

Related terms

• comburente
• combustión

 

Further reading

• “combustible”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014