candle
Americannoun
-
candles
plural
-
a long, usually slender piece of tallow or wax with an embedded wick that is burned to give light.
-
something resembling a candle in appearance or use.
-
Optics.
-
(formerly) candela.
-
Also called international candle. a unit of luminous intensity, defined as a fraction of the luminous intensity of a group of 45 carbon-filament lamps: used from 1909 to 1948 as the international standard.
-
a unit of luminous intensity, equal to the luminous intensity of a wax candle of standard specifications: used prior to 1909 as the international standard. c., c
-
verb (used with object)
-
candles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
candled,
past participle, past
-
candling
present participle
-
to examine (eggs) for freshness, fertility, etc., by holding them up to a bright light.
-
to hold (a bottle of wine) in front of a lighted candle while decanting so as to detect sediment and prevent its being poured off with the wine.
idioms
-
hold a candle to, to compare favorably with (usually used in the negative).
She's smart, but she can't hold a candle to her sister.
-
burn the / one's candle at both ends. burn.
-
worth the candle, worth the trouble or effort involved (usually used in the negative).
Trying to win them over to your viewpoint is not worth the candle.
noun
-
a cylindrical piece of wax, tallow, or other fatty substance surrounding a wick, which is burned to produce light
-
physics
-
another name for candela
-
to exhaust oneself, esp by being up late and getting up early to work
-
informal to be inferior or contemptible in comparison with
your dog doesn't hold a candle to mine
-
informal not worth the price or trouble entailed (esp in the phrase the game's not worth the candle )
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
candlesimple
-
candlessimple
-
have candledperfect
-
has candledperfect
-
am candlingprogressive
-
are candlingprogressive
-
is candlingprogressive
-
have been candlingperfect progressive
-
has been candlingperfect progressive
Past
-
candledsimple
-
had candledperfect
-
was candlingprogressive
-
were candlingprogressive
-
had been candlingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of candle
First recorded before 900; Middle English candel, candle, condel, Old English candel, condel, from Latin candēla, equivalent to cand(ēre) “to shine, gleam white” + -ēla noun suffix; see candid
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.
See Examples For:
Argentina “doesn’t hold a candle to the greatest rivalry in sports—Barcelona vs. Real Madrid.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
"For me if they pull the funding on this, I'll still be here on a Friday. I'll bring a candle if the lights go out and I think that explains it all."
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
She knows painting candles isn’t new, but she believes her motivation and the care she puts into each candle makes them special beyond their looks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
"Surf wax, which we put on the boards, is not available at all in Gaza, so we resort to candle wax so we can keep this sport going," he added.
From Barron's ● Jun. 22, 2026
It’s nearly midnight when I blow out the candle.
From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
Entertainment groups representing big-ticket artists like BTS are suing the sellers of counterfeit merchandise ranging from an Ozzy Osbourne Christmas elf to $30 Lady Gaga candles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
They lit candles, grasped rosaries and passed out poster boards and N-95 masks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026
But I have somehow assembled enough glittering people and enough secondhand objects — a woven rug, cushions, low tables, an impossible number of candles — that it feels like a tiny seventh-floor pop-up restaurant.
From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026
They announced their engagement in September last year after Tom proposed in Dubai in front of the luxury hotel, Burj Al Arab, with a host of candles and flowers.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
Mama waved her open hands over the candles three times, as if sweeping the candlelight toward herself.
From Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack
Unlike with most poultry, the eggs cannot be candled to check on the embryo growing inside for the 52 days between laying and hatching.
From Seattle Times ● May 5, 2022
Early on, she candled eggs for a poultry farm while he played “frisbee on the green.”
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 20, 2018
While psychiatrists candled the accused's head, the city focused on its ugly old Cook County jail.
From Time Magazine Archive
He candled eggs in a grocery store, became a messenger boy for a bank, a cashier's assistant in the local Morrell packing plant, finally got a scholarship to Trinity College.
From Time Magazine Archive
You figure on gettin' me candled by some head shrinker, eh?
From Gun for Hire by H. R. van Dongen
Unclear, though certificates on the walls congratulate her on her mastery of ear candling and reiki.
From New York Times ● Jan. 20, 2015
His wife, when not mothering their five boys and three girls, spent grueling days standing at a local produce house as she examined poultry eggs under a light - what they call candling.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 2, 2014
Sam Cruz, a 12-year IRS employee who works in candling, said he finds something left behind maybe two or three times for every thousand envelopes.
From Washington Post
Sufficiently accurate for commercial grading, candling does not give data detailed enough for scientists who wish to study methods of egg preservation.
From Time Magazine Archive
If you are in doubt about the quality of any eggs you are candling break a few of them into a dish and examine them.
From Every Step in Canning by Grace Viall Gray
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.
