Word.ws English Dictionary

firesetting

firesetting noun: the setting of fires; arson.

Noun

firesetting (uncountable)

  1. The setting of fires; arson.
    • Given the scope of the negative outcomes associated with juvenile firesetting, it is surprising that there is so little empirical study of this behaviour.2012, Geoffrey L. Dickens, Philip A. Sugarman, Theresa A. Gannon, Firesetting and Mental Health: Theory, Research and Practice, page 84
  2. (historical) The use of fire to soften or crack the working face of a lode, to facilitate excavation; later superseded by the use of explosives.

Origin of firesetting

From fire + setting.

Questions about firesetting

What does firesetting mean?
Firesetting means the setting of fires; arson.
What part of speech is firesetting?
Firesetting is a noun.

Words near firesetting in the dictionary

  1. firescreens
  2. fireset
  3. firesets
  4. firesetter
  5. firesetters
  6. firesetting
  7. fireshed
  8. firesheds
  9. fireshine
  10. fireship
  11. fireships

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: firesetting (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.

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