Origin: Latin suffix -ory
Inflammatory has 4 different meanings across 1 category:
Any material that causes inflammation
"The nurse carefully applied the sterile, inflammatory ointment to soothe the swollen skin rash."
In plain English: An inflammatory is something that causes irritation, anger, or conflict to spread quickly among people.
"The inflammatory speech caused an immediate riot in the crowd."
characterized or caused by inflammation
"an inflammatory process"
"an inflammatory response"
arousing to action or rebellion
"The speechmaker used inflammatory rhetoric that incited a violent protest among the crowd."
Tending to inflame or provoke somebody.
"His inflammatory speech managed to anger even the calmest members of the audience."
In plain English: Inflammatory means something that causes anger, excitement, or strong emotion to spread quickly among people.
"The senator's inflammatory speech caused an immediate uproar among the crowd."
The word inflammatory comes from combining the Latin root inflame, meaning to set on fire or excite anger, with the suffix -atory. It entered English as a direct formation describing something that causes irritation or provokes strong emotion.