How to Use tinder in a Sentence

tinder

noun
Definition of tindernext
  • Or use a small square of duct tape—sticky side up—as a base for tinder.
    — T. Edward Nickens, Field & Stream, 28 Dec. 2020
  • There are two primary types of fire starters: the spark and the tinder.
    — Chris Meehan, Popular Mechanics, 14 Aug. 2022
  • Heat makes forests more tinder dry and more fire-prone.
    — Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY, 9 June 2023
  • Australia is in the midst of a prolonged drought, making much of the land tinder dry.
    — Carrie Hutchinson, Condé Nast Traveler, 9 Jan. 2020
  • Large parts of forests will die, and the dead trees will become tinder for wildfire.
    — Allegra Kirkland, Quartz, 18 Oct. 2019
  • Wark said this is the time of year that any snow has long since melted and there’s plenty of dry tinder on the ground.
    — Emily Sweeney, BostonGlobe.com, 15 May 2023
  • Use a match to light the tinder, slowly adding the additional sticks and logs as the fire builds.
    — Nicole Harris, Parents, 25 Oct. 2023
  • Form a tepee with three 6-inch-tall sticks, and place smaller sticks on the floor as a platform for the tinder.
    — Michael Stillwell, Popular Mechanics, 27 Mar. 2023
  • Gently add more tinder to the flame, making sure to block any rain drops with your hands or body.
    — Jim Baird, Field & Stream, 1 Oct. 2020
  • The trees and grasses of eastern Canada turned to tinder.
    — Somini Sengupta, New York Times, 8 June 2023
  • And all the snowmelt has brilliantly greened what’s often a dry, brown tinder box by this time of year.
    — Lila Seidman, Los Angeles Times, 11 Sep. 2023
  • As boggy soils drain to rivers and oceans in the Arctic, peaty soils will dry out and turn into tinder.
    — Carolyn Kormann, The New Yorker, 8 Aug. 2019
  • And the more overlap, the more dry tinder there is to keep this pandemic going.
    — Alexis C. Madrigal, The Atlantic, 15 Aug. 2021
  • Fire bags were used by the Dena’ina people to carry fire-making tools and tinder.
    — Author: Joaqlin Estus, Anchorage Daily News, 12 Aug. 2021
  • Or twist strips of duct tape into tinder sticks 6 to 8 inches long.
    — T. Edward Nickens, Field & Stream, 28 Dec. 2020
  • Wildfires have torched vast swathes of the U.S. and Europe amid tinder dry weather this year.
    — Robert Hart, Forbes, 8 Sep. 2021
  • Lean kindling sticks against each other over a mound of tinder.
    — Jessica Bennett, Better Homes & Gardens, 30 Sep. 2021
  • The massive influx of weapons added tinder to those conflicts.
    — Los Angeles Times, 6 Oct. 2019
  • Few others in the lush coastal region shared his level of concern, even as drought turned the area tinder-dry.
    — NBC News, 9 Feb. 2020
  • That was followed by months of extreme heat that withered the new growth and turned it into more tinder.
    — Julie Turkewitz, New York Times, 11 Oct. 2017
  • The idea is to send out the four-legged laborers to munch through brush and leaf litter that can act as tinder during hot, dry years.
    — Alice Uribe, WSJ, 7 Jan. 2022
  • But the lungs are choking on smoke—the Earth has gone emphysemic—and the leaders most in a position to fix things are adding tinder to the flames.
    — Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 6 Sep. 2019
  • And the Equal Rights Amendment is the tinder that can spark the unstoppable fire of equality in this country.
    — Betty Folliard, Twin Cities, 25 Aug. 2019
  • With the snow gone early, brown grass and bare trees made for tinder to fuel fires earlier this year.
    — Laura Schulte, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 18 June 2021
  • Greece has been roiled by hundreds of wildfires this month, on the heels of its most severe heat wave in decades, which left its forests tinder-dry.
    — Washington Post, 16 Aug. 2021
  • The statement said the hot air creates tinder-like brush that could fuel wildfires.
    — Julia Musto, Fox News, 6 Dec. 2020
  • The thin strips of pasteboard nailed to the walls was a ramshackle form of insulation, and textbook tinder.
    — Gregg Doyel, Indianapolis Star, 20 Dec. 2017
  • The fires have been driven by windy and dry conditions, scorching grass, brush and tinder.
    — Julia Musto, Fox News, 6 May 2022
  • All of this tension and anger was a tinder box waiting to be lit by the extradition law.
    — James Griffiths, CNN, 26 Aug. 2019
  • All of these videos are like tinder building up to a real place in the community.
    — Soleil Ho, San Francisco Chronicle, 5 Apr. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tinder.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: