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Glite Dictionary
firetrap

firetrap

4 7.9
A building that is unsafe and hard to escape from in a fire
  • noun
  • /ˈfaɪərtræp/
translation icon : trampa de fuego
  • After the inspection, the report stated that the old factory was a dangerous firetrap that needed immediate remediation.
  • firetrap building
  • firetrap house

Examples

  • After all our so-called success, we're back in this old firetrap.

    Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004)

  • The officials condemned the apartment building, calling it a firetrap due to its outdated wiring and blocked exits.

  • This place is a firetrap.

    Honey Don't! (2025)

  • The place was a firetrap.

    Surviving the Game (1994)

  • Could the place be a firetrap?

    Fiction book (2002)

  • We met in a firetrap tenement on the Lower East Side.

    Academic text (1997)

  • With the doors chained, that school's a firetrap.

    Lean On Me (1989)

  • But worst of all, it is a veritable firetrap.

    In Old Chicago (1938)

  • I have heard that they consider theaters firetraps.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Jack's apartment building—red-bricked, poorly ventilated, a firetrap—was virtually identical to the one across the way, indeed to dozens of others in this forgotten neighborhood.

    Fiction book (1996)

Synonyms

deathtrap
vsfiretrap
8 8.2

A very unsafe building that could cause death or serious injury

is dangerous because escaping a fire would be difficult rather than being broadly lethal

How Safe

security
∞ 2.5
firetrap
4 7.9
deathtrap
8 8.2

Surface Forms

firetrap singular
firetraps plural

Morphology

firetrap = fire + trap (transparent) = fire + trap

The compound combines 'fire' and 'trap' in a straightforward way: a place that would trap people in a fire, so the meaning can be derived from the components.

Etymology

Firetrap is made from fire and trap, so imagine a building that 'traps' people when a fire starts. That's why a firetrap means an unsafe building that would be hard to escape from in a fire.