Both inflammable and inflammatory cause a fiery reaction, but it’s inflammable that can result in physical flames. Inflammatory is more figurative that results in angry rhetoric or a body’s reaction to an injury or an infection.
You may want to explore “Flammable versus Inflammable” as well.
Word Confusions…
…started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noir for you from either end.
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| Inflammable | Inflammatory |
|---|---|
| Credit to: Apple Dictionary.com; Dictionary.com: inflammable, inflammatory; Lexico.com: inflammatory | |
Matches is under the CC0 license, via pxhere. — Matches are but one of many inflammables. |
Inflammatory verrucous linear epidermal nevus by Littlekidsdoc is under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Adjective; Noun
Plural for the noun: inflammables |
Adjective |
| Adjective: Easily set on fire
Easily aroused or excited, as to passion or anger
Noun: |
[Pathology] Relating to or causing a part of the body to become reddened, swollen, hot, and often painful, especially as a reaction to injury or infection
[Especially of speech or writing] Arousing or intended to arouse angry or violent feelings |
| Examples: | |
| Adjective: The building was filled with inflammable and poisonous gases. She has quite the inflammable disposition. Residents began clapping and chanting in support of the resistance and threw straw and other inflammable materials on the fire. Bundles of goods containing inflammable materials and electricity wires dangerously hanging overhead cause recurrent fire. Noun: A mob poured inflammables from outside into the compartment and set the rail compartment ablaze. The fire broke out when a passenger sprayed inflammables on the floor from two bottles and set fire to it. Vessels shall leave the docks immediately upon loading inflammables in the port of Montevideo. |
Ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease are idiopathic inflammatory disorders of unknown aetiology.
Fistulae may result from localized infection or indicate inflammatory bowel disease. Lupus is a chronic inflammatory disease in which your immune system attacks some of your own cells. The crowd was shouting inflammatory slogans. The men were using inflammatory language about the other team’s supporters. He thought his opponent’s remarks were unfair and inflammatory. |
| Derivatives: | |
| Adjective: noninflammable Adverb: inflammably Noun: inflammability, inflammableness, noninflammability Verb: |
Adjective: noninflammatory, subinflammatory Adverb: inflammatorily |
| History of the Word: | |
| Early 17th century from the French, or from the Latin inflammare. | 1725–35, from the Latin inflammāt(us) + -ory. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan…which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them…and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions by exploring the index. You may also want to explore Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, and/or the Properly Punctuated.
Pinterest Photo Credits:
Bücherverbrennung was photographed by Georg Pahl, 11 May 1933, in the Opernplatz, Berlin. It is under the CC BY-SA 3.0 DE license, via Wikimedia Commons and is courtesy of Das Bundesarchiv.
