Etymologically
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inflammatory

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ɪnˈflæmət(ə)ɹi/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin inflammātōrius,[2] compare French inflammatoire, recorded from 1722;[2][3] other dictionaries take it as formed from the Latin past participle inflammātus and -ory,[4][3][5][6] or from inflammation and the same suffix.[7] The Latin verb is inflammō (“to set on fire, kindle”), also "to rouse, excite", from in- (“in”) and flammō (“to flame”), from flamma (“flame”),[4][3] and is the source of inflame.[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a noun, something that inflames or rouses strong feeling: 1681, in Henry More's exposition of Daniel.[2][7] The adjective is recorded before 1711 in Ken's Hymnarium, in the sense "tending to rouse passion or desire".[2][4][5]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense came first, and the OED notes that it is now usually meant in a bad sense, of rousing anger or hostility.[2][4][7] The medical sense, "of the nature of or characterized by inflammation", followed in 1732, in Arbuthnot's work on diet,[2][4] and in 1733 the word was used of what heats the blood or excites the senses.[2] Johnson (1755) defined it only as "having the power of inflaming", with Arbuthnot's inflammatory distemper and an inflammatory fever among his examples,[8] while Webster (1828) gave the medical senses first and then "tending to excite anger, animosity, tumult or sedition", of libels and speeches.[9] The literal sense of a blazing condition had only a short life (1757–1796).[2] The noun is now rare or obsolete.[7]

Timeline

  • 1681 – noun, something that inflames strong feeling.[2][4]
  • before 1711 – tending to rouse passion or desire; later, anger or animosity.[2][5]
  • 1732 – pathology, of or characterized by inflammation.[2][4]
  • 1733 – heating the blood; stimulating.[2]
  • 1757 – causing a blazing condition (obsolete by 1796).[2]
  • 1874 – characterized by excitement or passion.[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Likely or intended to arouse anger, hostility or violence, especially of speech or writing: The editor refused to print the inflammatory letter.
  2. (pathology) Relating to, caused by or causing inflammation: an inflammatory disease of the joints.
  3. Tending to excite the senses or passion.

Word family

  • inflammatorily
  • anti-inflammatory
  • noninflammatory
  • subinflammatory

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  9. ^ Webster, Noah (1828), An American Dictionary of the English Language, New York: S. Converse