Word.ws English Dictionary

barnburner

barnburner noun: one who burns down a barn.

Noun (1)

barnburner (plural barnburners)

  1. One who burns down a barn.
  2. (New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, slang, Maryland) Synonym of phosphorus match, a friction match that can be struck anywhere.
  3. (idiomatic) A sensationally exciting or successful event or person.
    • Those deathless twin barnburners return to the Metropolitan Opera tonight.2007 January 26, The New York Times, “Classical Music/Opera Listings”, in New York Times
    • It is hard to know what could convince the barnburners to change their ways. The Maga base rewards them with money and the media lavishes them with airtime.2023 October 7, Edward Luce, “The unending Republican revolution”, in FT Weekend, London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 6

Noun (2) capitalized: Barnburner

Barnburner (plural Barnburners)

  1. (US, historical, slang) A member of the radical section of the Democratic party in New York, around the middle of the 19th century, which was hostile to extension of slavery, public debts, corporate privileges, etc., and supported Van Buren against Cass for president in 1848.

Synonyms of barnburner

Antonyms

Forms of barnburner

pluralbarnburners
alternative formbarn burner
alternative formbarn-burner
pluralBarnburners

Origin of barnburner

From barn + burner. In exaggerated use, from the hyperbolic idea of someone burning down a barn to end a rat infestation.

Questions about barnburner

What does barnburner mean?
Barnburner means one who burns down a barn.
What part of speech is barnburner?
Barnburner is a noun.
What is the plural of barnburner?
The plural of barnburner is barnburners.

Words near barnburner in the dictionary

  1. Barnawartha North
  2. barnboard
  3. barnboards
  4. barnbrack
  5. Barnburgh
  6. barnburner
  7. barnburners
  8. barnburning
  9. Barnby Dun
  10. Barnby Dun with Kirk Sandall
  11. Barnby Moor

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: barnburner (page history and authors); Barnburner (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-barnburner.ogg.

Cite this entry: “barnburner.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/barnburner. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.