Thesaurus results for TINDERBOXES

tinderboxes

noun

plural of tinderbox

as in volcanoes

a potentially explosive place or situation officials sought to calm the situation, which had grown into a tinderbox

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as in crises

a time or state of affairs requiring prompt or decisive action while the country's prime minister was meeting with the U.S. president, a political tinderbox was igniting at home

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of tinderboxes Unlike many forests in the American Southwest, where trees are adapted to seasonal drought and frequent fire, these forests can become tinderboxes when subjected to weeks of unusual heat. — Bloomberg, Fortune, 10 Aug. 2026 The Industrial Revolution, supercharged by the Civil War, transformed Northeastern cities into denser and denser wooden tinderboxes filled with tons of humans more than capable of accidentally generating sparks. — Noah Haggerty, Los Angeles Times, 2 Apr. 2026 Unlike natural thinning, large fire-resilient trees are typically high-graded for felling in Jackson, creating tinderboxes of 300 to 500 mostly juvenile trees per acre. — John P. O’Brien, Mercury News, 13 Sep. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for tinderboxes

Noun

An important hazard is also associated with the glaciers on the steep-sided volcanoes of the Cascade Range, which stretches from California to Washington.

— Andrew Fountain, The Conversation, 12 Oct. 2026
Trace Hawai‘i’s Volcanoes At Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, trails and scenic drives cross landscapes shaped by Kīlauea and Mauna Loa, two of the world’s most active volcanoes.

— Kevin Jackson, Travel + Leisure, 9 Oct. 2026

Definition of volcanoes

Noun

Latif, a hitman who’s also a father of three and a practicing Muslim, faces compounding crises when his wife dies, leaving him with a newborn who can’t tolerate formula.

— The Week US, TheWeek, 13 Oct. 2026
With a system immune to currency crises, stability was established in Ecuador, and while stability might not be everything, everything is nothing without stability.

— Steve H. Hanke, Fortune, 13 Oct. 2026

Definition of crises

Noun

Related Stories The growing muscle that YouTube flexes as the video crossroads of the world was a near-constant subject of conversation.

— Leo Barraclough, Variety, 15 Oct. 2026
Critics see a once-lively multiethnic crossroads suffocated by Chinese authoritarianism.

— David J. Lynch, Washington Post, 15 Oct. 2026

Definition of crossroads

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tinderbox

tinderboxes

tine

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“Tinderboxes.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tinderboxes. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of tinderboxes

noun

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