Meaning & use
combustibility
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountabletechnical
The degree to which a material can catch fire and burn.
Grammar: Uncountable; used when talking about how easily something burns, not about individual instances.
Patterns
- the combustibility of something
- high/low combustibility
Engineers tested the combustibility of the new insulation before it was approved for buildings.
The combustibility of the foam made it unsuitable for use near electrical equipment.
noununcountabletechnical
The quality of being likely to start burning or to support burning.
Grammar: Uncountable; often used in safety contexts to describe a risk.
Patterns
- reduce combustibility
- increase combustibility
Adding flame retardants can reduce the combustibility of fabrics used in furniture.
The report highlighted the high combustibility of the stored chemicals.
Common combinations
- high combustibility
- Materials with high combustibility must be stored away from heat sources.
- low combustibility
- The low combustibility of the material made it safe for use in kitchens.
- test for combustibility
- Laboratories test for combustibility before certifying a product.
- reduce combustibility
- New regulations aim to reduce the combustibility of building materials.
Synonyms and how they differ
- flammability
- Flammability is more common in everyday and safety contexts; combustibility is often used in technical or engineering writing.
- burnability
- Burnability is a rare, informal term; combustibility is the standard technical word.
Opposites
Word family
- combustible adjective
- Able to catch fire and burn easily.
- combust verb
- To burn or to start burning, especially in a technical context.
- combustion noun
- The process of burning.
- incombustible adjective
- Not able to burn.
Commonly confused: combustibility or combustion? combustibility or flammability?
combustibility vs combustion
Combustion is the process of burning; combustibility is the ability to burn.
combustibility vs flammability
Flammability and combustibility are often used interchangeably, but flammability is more common in everyday language.
Practice
The engineers measured the ______ of the new material to see how quickly it would catch fire.
Choose one answer.
Combustibility is the noun for the ability to burn, which fits after 'measured the'. Combustion is the process of burning, combustible is an adjective, and combust is a verb, so none fit the grammar here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “combustibility”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.