Associations to the word «Tinderbox»

Wiktionary

TINDERBOX, noun. A small container containing flint, steel, and tinder (dry, finely-divided fibrous matter), once used to help kindle a fire.
TINDERBOX, noun. (by extension) a place that is so dry and hot that there is danger of fire.
TINDERBOX, noun. (by extension) a potentially dangerous situation.

Dictionary definition

TINDERBOX, noun. A dangerous state of affairs; a situation that is a potential source of violence; "the Balkans are the tinderbox of Europe".
TINDERBOX, noun. A box for holding tinder.

Wise words

Words - so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them.
Nathaniel Hawthorne