Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To arouse to passionate feeling or action.
- intransitive verb To make more violent; intensify.
- intransitive verb To cause (the skin) to redden or grow hot, as from strong emotion or stimulants.
- intransitive verb To turn red or make glow.
- intransitive verb To produce inflammation in (a tissue or organ).
- intransitive verb To set on fire; kindle.
- intransitive verb To become excited or aroused.
- intransitive verb To be affected by inflammation.
- intransitive verb To catch fire.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To become inflamed.
- To set on fire; kindle; cause to burn with a flame.
- To raise to an unnatural or morbid heat; make hot or red as if from flame; excite inflammation in: as, wine inflames the blood; the skin is inflamed by an eruption.
- To excite to a high degree; stimulate to high or excessive action or emotion; exacerbate; make violent: as, to
inflame the passions; to inflame the populace. - To aggravate in amount; magnify; exaggerate.
- Synonyms To fire, arouse, nettle, incense, enrage.
- To take fire; burst into flame; glow with ardor of action or feeling.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To grow morbidly hot, congested, or painful; to become angry or incensed.
- transitive verb To set on fire; to kindle; to cause to burn, flame, or glow.
- transitive verb Fig.: To kindle or intensify, as passion or appetite; to excite to an excessive or unnatural action or heat.
- transitive verb To provoke to anger or rage; to exasperate; to irritate; to incense; to enrage.
- transitive verb (Med.) To put in a state of inflammation; to produce morbid heat, congestion, or swelling, of.
- transitive verb obsolete To exaggerate; to enlarge upon.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To set on
fire ; tokindle ; to cause toburn ,flame , orglow . - verb figuratively To
kindle orintensify , as passion or appetite; toexcite to an excessive or unnatural action or heat; as, to inflame desire. - verb To
provoke to anger or rage; toexasperate ; toirritate ; toincense ; toenrage . - verb To put in a state of
inflammation ; to produce morbid heat, congestion, or swelling, of; as, to inflame the eyes by overwork. - verb To
exaggerate ; to enlarge upon. - verb To grow morbidly hot,
congested , orpainful ; to becomeangry orincensed .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb become inflamed; get sore
- verb catch fire
- verb cause to start burning
- verb arouse or excite feelings and passions
- verb cause inflammation in
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word inflame.
Examples
-
The issues that Facebook faced the last few weeks of 2007 have seemed to resurrect - or perhaps, inflame is the better word - the issue of privacy.
-
Nashville would again inflame the minds of the people against England.
-
An opener can also inflame, which is what Gil Scott-Heron does with his diatribe against Ronald Reagan: "Well the first thing I'd like to say is/Mandate my ass!".
Culture | guardian.co.uk Paul MacInnes 2010
-
But the corporation has kept the report under wraps amid claims it is frightened that it will 'inflame' Muslims around the world.
Westergaard accuses BBC of appeasement.... GayandRight 2009
-
BORGER: You know, neither of these candidates right now wants to do anything to kind of inflame the tensions that already exist between these two campaigns.
-
"Saddam monitored Milosevic's performance at The Hague and was very impressed with it," says former U.S. occupation spokesman Dan Senor, who worries that the trial will "inflame" Sunni insurgents in the short run.
Reckoning in Iraq 2007
-
Our age is too enlightened to contend upon topics which concern only the interests of eternity; the men who hold in proper contempt all controversies about trifles, except such as inflame their own passions, have made it a commonplace censure against your ancestors, that their zeal was enkindled by subjects of trivial importance; and that however aggrieved by the intolerance of others, they were alike intolerant themselves.
-
Tensions between the two close allies escalated this month after Vice President Joe Biden claimed in a speech at Tel Aviv University that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's plans would "inflame" peace talks with Palestine.
Raw Story 2010
-
Up until about 30 years ago flammable substances were often described as inflammable (as in the word 'inflame') but this was dangerous as sometimes people thought that inflammable meant
-
But the corporation has kept the report under wraps amid claims it is frightened that it will "inflame" Muslims around the world.
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.