Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Definition: Arson |
ArsonNoun1. Malicious burning to destroy property; "the British term for arson is fire-raising". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "arson" was first used: 1680. (references) |
Etymology: Arson \Ar"son\ ([aum]r"s'n), noun. [Old French expression arson, arsun, from the Latin expression ardere, arsum, to burn.]. (Websters 1913) |
| Domain | Definition |
19th Century Satire | Derived from the Hebrew. (See INSURANCE). Source: Foolish Dictionary, 1904. |
Food & Agriculture | The criminal setting on fire of another's property or wilful burning of one's own belongings when insured. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Very often one distinguishes several degrees of arson, for example arson committed at night is usually viewed as being more serious than that committed during daytime. Setting fire to one's own property to defraud an insurance company is also a form of arson.
Wilful or negligent misconduct resulting in a forest fire, e.g., tossing a spent match or cigarette out of a vehicle in a closed area, is also subject to prosecution under many arson statutes.
see also: crime, law
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Arson."
Synonyms: ArsonSynonyms: fire-raising (n), incendiarism (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Calefaction | Ignition, inflammation, adustion, flagration; deflagration, conflagration; empyrosis, incendiarism; arson; auto dafe. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Arson |
| English words defined with "arson": fire-raising ♦ incendiarism ♦ torch. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "arson": BATTALION CHIEF, Bureau Of Alcohol, Tobacco And Firearms ♦ CAPTAIN, FIRE-PREVENTION BUREAU ♦ FIRE-INVESTIGATION LIEUTENANT. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Rape, murder, arson, and rape. (Blazing Saddles; writing credit: Andrew Bergman; Mel Brooks) | |
Clever | Arson Suspect is Held in Massachusetts Fire (references; author: unknown) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Arson for Hire (1959) Inc. Arson (1949) Arson Squad (1945) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Periodicals |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | ![]() | I would no more teach children military training than teach them arson, robbery, or assassination. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Business | The U.S. restrictions were levied in retaliation to the European ban on American beef. Since the imposition, McDonald's has been the focal point of these economic frustrations resulting in protests, acts of vandalism and, in France, cases of arson. (references) | |
Civil Liberties | Venezuela | On May 25, the printing press of La Opinin newspaper in Cojedes state was destroyed by fire in an apparent arson. (references) |
Russia | On July 13, a fire, which some Jewish leaders suspected to be the result of arson, damaged the roof and upper floor of the school. (references) | |
Antigua and Barbuda | At year's end, the police still had not issued an official report on their investigations into three possible arson attacks in 1998; no report is expected. (references) | |
Economic History | Bahrain | Political unrest broke out in December 1994 and included sporadic mass protests, skirmishes with local law enforcement, arson, and property attacks. (references) |
Nigeria | In late 2000 the Yoruba OPC instigated conflicts with the ethnic Hausa communities in Lagos state resulting in scores of deaths, arson, and days of rioting. (references) | |
Human Rights | France | In 1998 a court found him guilty of arson. (references) |
Indigenous People | Bangladesh | Police arrested 6 tribals in connection with the murder of the truck driver, and 15 others for arson. (references) |
Minorities | Russia | On August 16, in a widely publicized case, there was an arson attack on the Jewish synagogue in Ryazan. (references) |
Germany | On October 11, two young men of Arab origin were convicted of aggravated arson in association with the attack. (references) | |
Political Economy | Lesotho | The palace vigil and protests resulted in politically motivated killings, injuries, violence, arson, and destruction. (references) |
Bahrain | On the infrequent occasions when they have occurred, arson attacks have been on specific, mostly Bahraini-owned, enterprises. (references) | |
Lesotho | The 1998 opposition protest and SADC intervention resulted in a wave of political violence and arson that destroyed nearly 80 percent of the commercial infrastructure in Maseru and other towns and villages. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Arson" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 96.92% of the time. "Arson" is used about 292 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 96.92% | 283 | 17,340 |
| Noun (proper) | 3.08% | 9 | 117,287 |
| Total | 100.00% | 292 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "arson": commit arson ♦ negligent arson. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "arson": arson-hit, arson-related. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "arson"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | zjarrvënie e qëllimshme. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | إحراق الممتلكات عمدا. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | подпалвачество (incendiarism), палеж (fire raising, incendiarism). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | "火罪. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | palièství, žhářství (incendiarism). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | ildspåsættelse, brandstiftelse. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | opzettelijke brandstichting, moedwillige brandstichting, brandstichting (actionable fire). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | ایجادحریق عمدی , اتش زنی . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | murhapoltto. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | incendie volontaire. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Brandstiftung (fire raising, incendiary). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | εμπρησμός (actionable fire). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | gyújtogatás (fire raising, fire-raising, incendiarism, pyromania). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | incendio doloso. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 火付け (incendiary), 火付 (incendiary), "火罪 , "火 (set fire to), 不審火 (fire under suspicious circumstances). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | ひつけ (incendiary), ふし"び (fire under suspicious circumstances), ほうかざい, ほうか (beacon, fire, gunfire, Japanese money, law department or law school, legal currency, loud singing, one's country, rocket, set fire to, signal fire). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | losteyrys, losteyrid, lostey joinagh (incendiarism), foaddey (burn, burn up, burning, ignite, ignition, incendiarism, kindle, light, set on fire, switch on). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Norwegian | brannstiftelse. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | arsonay incêndio culposo, fogo posto (felony), crime de incêndio doloso. (various references) incendiu (conflagration, fire), incendiere, foc (affliction, Ardor, ardour, blaze, bonfire, brunt, conflagration, discharge, fire, firing, glow, grief, heat, ingle, jib, light, round, shot, spirit). (various references) поджог (fire raising, incendiarism). (various references) podmetanje požara, palež, namerna paljevina. (various references) incendio provocado. (various references) mordbrand (fire raising, incendiarism). (various references) การลอบวางเพลิง. (various references) kundakçılık (incendiarism), kasıtlı yangın çıkarma. (various references) підпал (incendiarism). (various references) sự cố ý gây nên hoả hoạn. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Late Latin | 300-700 | arsionem. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "arson": arsonist, arsonists, arsonous, arsons. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "arson": parson. (additional references) | |
Words containing "arson": parsonage, parsonages, parsonic, parsons. (additional references) | |
| |
"Arson" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Abreskov, Adson, aeson, airon, Aksoy, Amson, aornos, Arason, arcon, Ardon, arison, Arlon, Arnon, aron, aroon, aros, arosen, arron, arrons, Arsen, arsey, arso, artsen, aryon, arzo, Arzu, Ascon, asone, asong, Asroc, asrog, Asscn, asson, Ausona, Ausone, Avrion, avron, Ayrhoh, ayson, Ersoz, farsan, garson, Harson, Karslon, Marsdon, Rabson, rasion, raso, ratson, Razno, razon. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "arson" (pronounced Ä"rsun) |
| 5 | Ä" r s u n | parson. |
| 3 | -s u n | aflatoxin, angiotensin, antitoxin, assassin, basin, bison, bolson, businessperson, capsaicin, chairperson, chasten, christen, claxon, comparison, congressperson, damson, delicatessen, diocesan, dioxin, Dobson, ensign, fasten, garrison, Gibson, glisten, hasten, Hyson, jettison, keelson, kelson, layperson, lessen, lesson, listen, loosen, Mason, medicine, moisten, myosin, Nelson, newsperson, oxen, oxytocin, person, rechristen, rhodopsin, salesperson, spokesperson, toxin, unison, venison, washbasin, weatherperson, worsen. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: roans, sonar. | |
| Words within the letters "a-n-o-r-s" | |
-1 letter: naos, oars, osar, roan, soar, sora, sorn. | |
-2 letters: ars, nor, nos, oar, ons, ora, ors, ran, ras, son. | |
-3 letters: an, ar, as, na, no, on, or, os, so. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-n-o-r-s" | |
+1 letter: acorns, adorns, aprons, argons, arseno, arsino, arsons, barons, groans, lorans, manors, narcos, norias, orangs, organs, parson, racons, radons, ramson, ransom, rayons, reason, romans, rowans, sarong, senora, shoran, sonars, sovran, tronas. | |
+2 letters: anchors, angoras, anoraks, anurous, archons, arenose, arenous, aroints, aroynts, atoners, attorns, barongs, baryons, boranes, brogans, candors, cantors, carbons, cartons, coarsen, contras, corbans, corneas, coronas, cratons, crayons, dragons, enamors, erasion, garcons, garrons, hadrons, hoarsen, inroads, insofar, jargons, jordans, korunas, ladrons, lardons, loaners, macrons, maroons, marrons, masonry, matrons, moaners, morgans, narcose, narrows, natrons, nonarts, nonwars, normals, oarsman, oarsmen, onagers, onwards, oranges, ordains, origans, orphans, ourangs, pardons, parsons, partons, patrons, pawnors, persona, prolans, racoons, ramsons, ranchos, rancors, randoms, ransoms, rations, ratoons, rattons, reasons, reloans, robands, rodsman, romanos, ryokans, sadiron, saffron, santour, sarongs, saxhorn, senator, senhora, senoras, serrano, shorans, signora, soaring, soprani, soprano, sovrans, sporran, tarpons, transom, treason, uranous, warison. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)41 72 73 6F 6E |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references).- .-. ... --- -. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000001 01110010 01110011 01101111 01101110 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)A r s o n |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0041 0072 0073 006F 006E |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)3584858180 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Translations: Ancient 14. Derivations 15. Rhymes 16. Anagrams | 17. Orthography 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.