1
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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2
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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Recent Examples of tinderboxes
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
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
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From towering volcanoes to fish-flying markets, the Pacific Northwest packs a remarkable range of experiences into one corner of the country.—
Lauren Schuster,
Kansas City Star,
23 Apr. 2026
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Located inside the Big Island of Hawaii's sprawling Volcanoes National Park, Kilauea is among the most active volcanoes on Earth.—
Emily Mae Czachor,
CBS News,
23 Apr. 2026
Noun
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But the war is also having a less visible, yet potentially more consequential, impact on some of the world’s other conflicts and crises.—
Sudarsan Raghavan,
New Yorker,
28 Apr. 2026
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The Biden administration extended TPS for Haiti several times because of economic, health and political crises in the wake of the assassination of its president in 2021.—
Melissa Quinn,
CBS News,
28 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Consider the other teams that, like the Mets, have high expectations and have swiftly reached a crossroads.—
Tim Britton,
New York Times,
27 Apr. 2026
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Rabat is a cultural crossroads where books help transmit knowledge and the arts in all their diversity.—
Connor Sturges,
Condé Nast Traveler,
27 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Tinderboxes.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tinderboxes. Accessed 1 May. 2026.
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