ablaze
Americanadjective
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burning; on fire.
They set the logs ablaze.
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gleaming with bright lights, bold colors, etc.
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excited; eager; zealous; ardent.
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very angry.
adjective
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on fire; burning
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brightly illuminated
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emotionally aroused
Etymology
Origin of ablaze
Explanation
Use the adjective ablaze to describe something that's on fire. Once your campfire is ablaze, you can toast marshmallows over it. If there's a terrible fire in your town, it might set many houses ablaze, and some people dispose of fallen leaves and branches by setting them ablaze in the yard. The word dates from the 14th century, and it combines the prefix a-, which here means "on," and blaze, or "flame," from the Old English blæse, "torch, flame, firebrand, or lamp."
Vocabulary lists containing ablaze
"Ode to the Table" by Pablo Neruda
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Towers Falling
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Let There Be Light: Synonyms for "Bright"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Friday’s broadcast ended with a literal bang, with Colbert, Daniels and White taking hammers to the talk show set and setting it ablaze.
From Los Angeles Times • May 26, 2026
We are told it was ablaze at 07:30 on a Saturday morning, close to homes.
From BBC • May 20, 2026
The oil wells set ablaze in Kuwait in the 1990s during the first Gulf War took months to extinguish and released an estimated 130 to 400 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
From Barron's • Mar. 15, 2026
One of the ships, a foreign tanker carrying Iraqi fuel oil, was ablaze in Iraqi waters.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 12, 2026
They climbed not over but through the sun-red grass, among the awakened insect movement and the light ablaze.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
