Other forms: ignited, igniting, ignites
To ignite is to set on fire, or to spark strong feelings. Ignite the fuel, ignite a debate, the mixture ignited.
The technical sense is precise: something ignites when it reaches its ignition temperature and starts to burn on its own. Figuratively it means starting something that then spreads by itself — ignite a debate, ignite public anger — which keeps the image of a fire exactly. Note ignition, the system that starts an engine; and igneous rock, which is rock formed from molten material.
1verbsetTo set on fire.
“A single spark ignited the dry grass, and the fire spread quickly.”
2verbigniteTo spark strong feelings.
“The referee's decision ignited fury among the home fans.”
ignite is a setting alight.
Also accepted in games: light, set fire to
Latin ignire comes from ignis, fire. Igneous and the Sanskrit agni come from the same fire, which is one of the oldest reconstructible words there is.
Latin
ignītus
English, today
ignite
Built from
From Latin ignītus, past participle of ignio (“to set on fire, ignite”), from Latin ignis (“fire”), from Proto-Indo-European h₁n̥gʷnis, and thus related to Sanskrit अग्नि, Lithuanian ugnis, and Russian ого́нь.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Sharper Verbs