as in provocative
tending to excite political disorder or insurrection
the restless crowd was stirred up by the inflammatory rhetoric
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of inflammatory
He was put in intensive care for days due to kidney and inflammatory problems.
—
ABC News, 27 Mar. 2026
Being canceled for making comments considered too rogue, insensitive, inflammatory or divisive, specifically on political topics, is something celebrities have been dealing with for decades.
—Chris Gardner, HollywoodReporter, 27 Mar. 2026
In fact, about 70% of your immune cells live in your gut, working alongside trillions of bacteria to keep your body’s inflammatory response in balance.
—Lauren Manaker, SELF, 26 Mar. 2026
But time is not passive in a chronic inflammatory disease.
—Sarah Berg, STAT, 26 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for inflammatory
ABC News, 27 Mar. 2026
Being canceled for making comments considered too rogue, insensitive, inflammatory or divisive, specifically on political topics, is something celebrities have been dealing with for decades.
—Chris Gardner, HollywoodReporter, 27 Mar. 2026
In fact, about 70% of your immune cells live in your gut, working alongside trillions of bacteria to keep your body’s inflammatory response in balance.
—Lauren Manaker, SELF, 26 Mar. 2026
But time is not passive in a chronic inflammatory disease.
—Sarah Berg, STAT, 26 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for inflammatory
Recent Examples of Synonyms for inflammatory
Adjective
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If the storytelling were tighter and more successfully focused on its more sociologically provocative elements, Detective Hole could have settled into the overstuffed genre’s top tier rather than taking a place in the acceptable middle.—
Daniel Fienberg,
HollywoodReporter,
25 Mar. 2026
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But this crop of youthful, intentionally provocative antisemites is novel in some ways.—
Suzanne Schneider,
The New York Review of Books,
25 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Lai, an outspoken critic of China’s ruling Communist Party who founded the now-defunct Apple Daily, was found guilty in December of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and conspiring with others to publish seditious articles.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
6 Mar. 2026
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He was also found guilty of one count of publishing seditious materials under colonial-era legislation.—
Jennifer Jett,
NBC news,
26 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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In late 2024, more than 30 pupils were injured in an explosion caused by the manufacturing of incendiary devices intended for use at a student demonstration in Santiago.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
27 Mar. 2026
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The department said the investigation almost immediately revealed an incendiary cause, and an arson investigation was underway.—
Carlos E. Castañeda,
CBS News,
27 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Inflammatory.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/inflammatory. Accessed 4 Apr. 2026.
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