Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To burn with little smoke and no flame.
- v. To exist in a suppressed state: Revolution smoldered in the masses.
- v. To show signs of repressed anger or hatred.
- n. Thick smoke resulting from a slow fire.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To burn and smoke without flame; be smothery.
- Hence To exist in a suppressed state; burn inwardly, without outward demonstration as a thought, passion, and the like.
- To suffocate; smother.
- To discolor by the action of fire.
- n. Slow or suppressed combustion; smoke; smother.
Wiktionary
- v. intransitive, US To burn with no flame and little smoke.
- v. intransitive, figuratively To show signs of repressed anger or suppressed mental turmoil or other strong emotion, such as passion.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To burn and smoke without flame; to waste away by a slow and supressed combustion.
- v. To exist in a state of suppressed or smothered activity; to burn inwardly.
- v. obsolete To smother; to suffocate; to choke.
- n. obsolete Smoke; smother.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a fire that burns with thick smoke but no flame
- v. have strong suppressed feelings
- v. burn slowly and without a flame
Etymologies
- Middle English smolderen, to suffocate, from smolder, smoke, probably alteration of smorther, from Old English smorian, to smoke. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“It was chock-a-block full of interesting articles on geckos and eerily iridescent photos of deep-sea jellyfish, but for some reason the World magazines piled up in the corner until ones on the bottom began to smolder from the pressure of the magazines on the top.”
“They can kind of smolder and cause a fire later, and people might not even know they started a fire.”
“I'll read the next books because I kind of have to, working with middle / high schoolers in a professional capacity, but if I see the words "smolder" or "dizzy" or "hyperventilate" or”
“The color seemed to smolder like smoke, a mist of gray and silver.”
“Flames caught more slowly than usual, but then sank deep, burning away my skin and clothes, then slowing to a smolder when they hit the muscle underneath.”
“Coals smolder at the bottom, and warm steam rises.”
“He backed across the hall, guiding me as if we were dancing, and the fuse continued to smolder, its flame caressing me as he guided us to the couch.”
“Buildings and police vehicles still smolder from the previous night's riots, and more smoke plumes are rising above the city.”
“As a result, the circuit board may smolder and possibly catch fire.”
The Wall Street Journal: Auto Makers Recall 500,000 Vehicles
“While popular discontent is not at a high pitch as it was after the June 2009 presidential election, the fundamental conflict between citizens and dictators continues to smolder.”
The Wall Street Journal: Behind the Islamic Republic's Bluster
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘smolder’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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words 1
Traduce, Ramify, precipitous, rapture, adumbrate, knell, smolder, vagary, choleric, sibylline, hypocritical, jejune and 135 more...
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Lesson 8
you'll see
acrid, casualty, congested, cope, headlong, hurtle, impede, inevitable, initate, irate, lax, negligent and 3 more...
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Fire
Words describing or related to fire.
burn, blaze, brand, sizzle, scorch, char, crisp, crackle, kindle, flame, inferno, pyre and 27 more...
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Vocab8
acrid, casualty, congested, cope, headlong, hurtle, impede, inevitable, initiate, irate, lax, negligent and 3 more...
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Mold
Or mould. Your pick.
mold, mould, black mould, Stachybotrys, Aspergillus niger, hoodmold, buttonmold, moldavite, molder, smolder, sooty mold, quirk molding and 9 more...
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vocab#8
acrid, casualty, congested, cope, headlong, hurtle, impede, inevitable, initiate, irate, lax, negligent and 3 more...
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Words Stephenie Meyer Overuses
A collection of words author Stephenie Meyer overuses and abuses in her 'Twilight' series of young adult vampire fiction. Every time you read one of these words in her books, you will GRIMACE and C...
chagrin, grimace, chuckle, smirk, whispered, lope, scintillating, marble, topaz, smoldering, smolder, perfect and 30 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1901 more...
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thekatespanos's list
pomposity, gaggle, scintilla, lemming, bilk, vanquish, conflate, plenary, verisimilitude, perspicacious, rattletrap, obdurate and 325 more...
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My Revised GRE Preparation List
Words from the new GRE : This list consists mostly of words from the book Magoosh-GRE-vocab-ebook, which is one of the best vocab materials available, especially if you have started preparing one ...
alacrity, prosaic, veracity, paucity, contrite, trite, maintain, laconic, pugnacious, disparate, egregious, innocuous and 533 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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GRE list 1
Bloviate, Bacchanalia, mirth, covet, inconsequential, prescient, heresy, revelry, modality, gentrify, vitiate, tantalize and 182 more...
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NakedFringe's Words
masticate, chamber, orchid, mandolin, yellow, pomegranate, conundrum, paradox, gyrate, calamitous, opalescent, cacophony and 533 more...
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My GRE
concomitant, mendacity, corollary, mandate, ascertain, exacerbate, substantiate, perennial, exemplify, hegemony, acrimonious, repertoire and 653 more...
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rich words
auburn, aureole, relic, reliquary, aureate, umber, lyric, elegy, requiem, jacinth, sable, penumbra and 95 more...
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