aflame
Americanadjective
-
on fire; ablaze.
The house was all aflame.
-
eager and excited.
I was aflame with curiosity.
adverb
-
in flames; ablaze
-
deeply aroused, as with passion
he was aflame with desire
-
(of the face) red or inflamed
Etymology
Origin of aflame
Explanation
Something that's aflame is on fire. You might accidentally set your marshmallow aflame when you're toasting it over a campfire. Cherries jubilee is a dessert that's famous for being set aflame at the table, and a stray bolt of lightning can set the roof of a house aflame. In either case, something's burning. You can also use the word figuratively, to describe someone who's very excited: "He was aflame with enthusiasm when he learned there would be a new Harry Potter book." The Latin root of aflame is flamma, "blazing fire."
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.
When a SpaceX rocket failure set the skies aflame over western Europe last February, no-one was sure if the debris was also polluting our atmosphere.
From BBC • Feb. 19, 2026
Video footage of the plane’s takeoff showed the General Electric engine aflame before the jet crashed in an industrial area just beyond the runway at Louisville’s Muhammad Ali International Airport.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 20, 2025
Another report released in 2021 found more than 400 hazardous sites are at risk for flooding with sea level rise in California, lingering parts of which are still aflame from wildfires as of this writing.
From Salon • Jan. 28, 2025
This year’s wildfire season has already razed near 220,000 acres, 20 times the amount of acreage that was aflame this time last year.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 15, 2024
I ate everything within reach, and then had to ask, face aflame with embarrassment, for more to be passed to me.
From "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles
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.
