tinderbox | Definition of tinderbox

Synonyms and Antonyms of tinderbox

1 a potentially explosive place or situation

officials sought to calm the situation, which had grown into a tinderbox

Synonyms of tinderbox

flash point, powder keg, time bomb, volcano

Words Related to tinderbox

hot button, third rail

2 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

Synonyms of tinderbox

boiling point, breaking point, clutch, conjuncture, crisis, crossroad(s), crunch, crunch time, Dunkirk, emergency, exigency, extremity, flash point, head, juncture, zero hour

Words Related to tinderbox

contingency, possibility

climax, turning point

happening, landmark, milestone

condition, pass, situation, strait

deadlock, impasse, stalemate

corner, fix, hole, hot water, jam, last ditch, pinch, predicament, scrape, spot

eleventh hour, last minute

Phrases Synonymous with tinderbox

moment of truth, point of no return