as in provocative
tending to excite political disorder or insurrection the restless crowd was stirred up by the inflammatory rhetoric

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

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 inflammatory Trump’s inflammatory language and verbal attacks on city and state leaders carry immense weight and are worrisome. Chicago Tribune, 3 Sep. 2025 The sanctions against members of the country’s Supreme Federal Court, imposed in July, have been particularly inflammatory. Hussein Kalout, Foreign Affairs, 2 Sep. 2025 The study, which was conducted on mice with stomach injuries, investigated how cells heal or fail to heal from infection or inflammatory disease. Maria Mocerino, Interesting Engineering, 31 Aug. 2025 The Sanseito party tapped into these frustrations on the campaign trail – doling out rhetoric that some critics called inflammatory and xenophobic. Jessie Yeung, CNN Money, 27 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for inflammatory
Recent Examples of Synonyms for inflammatory
Adjective
  • And the goal is to be provocative and push boundaries.
    Stephanie Sengwe, PEOPLE, 7 Sep. 2025
  • Fun, provocative and sometimes controversial, the MTV Video Music Awards stand out among other award shows.
    USA Today, USA Today, 7 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • Salisbury was even indicted for seditious libel and faced up to 21 years in prison.
    Stephanie A, The Conversation, 4 Aug. 2025
  • After a jury found him and three other members of the right-wing militia guilty of seditious conspiracy, he was sentenced in June 2023 to serve four and a half years in prison.
    Bayliss Wagner, Austin American Statesman, 30 July 2025
Adjective
  • Born in Macclesfield, England, and educated in Manchester, Burton studied print fashion at the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London in the late 1990s, and landed at McQueen after one of her instructors, Simon Ungless, introduced her to the incendiary designer in 1996.
    WWD Staff, Footwear News, 8 Sep. 2025
  • The spark between them is instant, and incendiary.
    David Fear, Rolling Stone, 8 Sep. 2025

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Inflammatory.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/inflammatory. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on inflammatory

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!