the.com/firebrand
Someone who treats every room like it needs more heat and less consensus.
means A person who stirs up passionate, often rebellious feeling — through speech or action — and is literally or figuratively always lighting a fire under something.
from Originally just a piece of burning wood — a 'brand' (from Old English 'brand/brond,' meaning fire or flame) that's on fire. By the 1500s English speakers started using 'firebrand' for a person who kindles unrest or passion the way a burning stick kindles tinder — someone who sets things ablaze with words instead of flame.
- original meaning
- literally a piece of burning wood
- modern use
- agitator who ignites crowds, not buildings
- career risk
- beloved by followers, exhausting to committees
- key trait
- certainty louder than evidence requires