From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishfirebrandfire‧brand /ˈfaɪəbrænd $ ˈfaɪr-/ noun [countable] PPsomeone who tries to make people angry about a law, government etc so that they will try to change it an idealistic young firebrand from the valleys
Examples from the Corpus
firebrand• Ronald Reagan was deplored as a firebrand who might bring on a nuclear war.• The malai lieutenant, a firebrand six months out of officer training school, shouted angrily at him.• Iritnefert was a firebrand, but she hadn't done anything.• Towering convective clouds rained down a hailstorm of ash, and firebrands even spanned the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.• Glenys, however, was not at home when the ginger firebrand and the Beatles' confidant arrived.• Sally, 44, was left more than £3 million when her firebrand husband died eight years ago.• Devlin, the former Irish nationalist firebrand, has been shot and jailed.• In its place came the Likud, a conservative bloc of parties headed by the nationalist firebrand Menachem Begin.• Nowadays, however, a burning bicycle tyre was used instead of a twig firebrand. 