firebrand

noun fire·brand \ ˈfī(-ə)r-ˌbrand \

Updated on: 26 Apr 2018

Definition of firebrand

1 : a piece of burning wood

2 : one that creates unrest or strife (as in aggressively promoting a cause) : agitator

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Examples of firebrand in a Sentence

a firebrand who urged crowds to riot during the blackouts

Recent Examples of firebrand from the Web

Media: Euronews Stockman, 61, of Clear Lake, a firebrand for right wing causes, maintains his innocence in a 28-count criminal indictment, to which his two aides Posey and Thomas Dodd have pleaded guilty.

— gabrielle banks, Houston Chronicle, "Aide testifies he lacked character to challenge ex-congressman Steve Stockman about fraud scheme," 4 Apr. 2018
There’s even a Millennial-style firebrand, Tracy Walker (Greta Gerwig), an American foreign-exchange student with a big bubble of blond hair, who edits her school newspaper, The Daily Manifesto, and speaks truth to power.

— peter rainer, The Christian Science Monitor, "'Isle of Dogs' is a stop-motion tour de force that is flabbergastingly original," 23 Mar. 2018
Then a chance meeting bought Nix into contact with Bannon, the Breitbart News firebrand who would later become a Trump campaign and White House adviser; and with Mercer, one of the richest men on earth.

— Anchorage Daily News, "Consultants for Trump misused Facebook data of millions," 18 Mar. 2018
Puig, a firebrand of a baseball man and apparently a game student of Bernie Sanders’ hitting philosophy, notched a career-high 28 homers in 2017.

— ted berg, For The Win, "Bernie Sanders is at Dodgers camp offering hitting tips to Yasiel Puig," 11 Mar. 2018
Mandelman — popularly seen as the firebrand — looked measured, by comparison.

— rachel swan, San Francisco Chronicle, "Who’s who in the District 8 race — Sheehy, Mandelman impersonate each other," 8 Mar. 2018
After the leftist firebrand Hugo Chávez became president in 1999, thousands of Venezuelans - especially from the upper classes - moved out of the country.

— anthony faiola, chicagotribune.com, "Venezuelans are fleeing their crisis-torn country en masse," 3 Mar. 2018
The firebrand cleric was arrested almost immediately after the Bali bombing.

— Washington Post, "Australia urges Indonesia against showing cleric leniency," 2 Mar. 2018
At the time of Thomas' death, the jail was overseen by conservative firebrand Sheriff David Clarke, who resigned in August to join a political action committee in support of President Donald Trump.

— crimesider staff, CBS News, "Three Milwaukee Co. jail staffers charged in inmate's dehydration death," 12 Feb. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'firebrand.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

The original firebrands were incendiary indeed; they were pieces of wood set burning at the fire, perhaps for use as a light or a weapon. English speakers started brandishing those literal firebrands as long ago as the 13th century. (Robinson Crusoe held one high as he rushed into a cave on his deserted island and saw by the light of the firebrand . . . lying on the ground a monstrous, frightful old he-goat.) But the burning embers of the wooden firebrand quickly sparked figurative uses for the term, too. By the early 14th century, firebrand was also being used for one doomed to burn in hell, and by 1382, English writers were using it for anyone who kindled mischief or inflamed passions.