Tinderbox

Definitions

1. A small container containing flint, steel, and tinder (dry, finely-divided fibrous matter), once used to help kindle a fire.
   historical
2. A suburb of Kingborough council area, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
3. A place that is so dry and hot that there is danger of fire.
   broadly
4. A potentially dangerous situation.
   figuratively

Equivalents

Examples

“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.”

“Just bring⟳ me the old tinderbox that my grandmother forgot the last⟳ time she went down there.”

“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”

“Think⟳ of your blank journal as a tinderbox, a box for holding combustible materials, ready to catch⟳ fire when you sit⟳ down to work⟳.”

“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.”

CEFR level