enkindle

American

[en-kin-dl] / ɛnˈkɪn dl /

verb (used with or without object)

enkindled, enkindling

to kindle into flame, ardor, activity, etc.

enkindle British

/ ɪnˈkɪndəl /

verb

to set on fire; kindle
to excite to activity or ardour; arouse

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

enkindler noun

Etymology

Origin of enkindle

First recorded in 1540–50; en- ¹ + kindle ¹

Vocabulary lists containing enkindle

"The Tragedy of Macbeth," Vocabulary from Act 1

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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.

His father gave him lessons about it but then stopped: “He could not enkindle in the heart of the child what was ashes in his own.”

From New York Times • Oct. 21, 2021

Minardi fought to enkindle the Catholic faith in youth — and he never gave up for the 70 years he was Ozzano’s parish priest, until coronavirus killed him at 94.

From Washington Times • Apr. 8, 2020

Friendly and exuberant “Let your wisdom enkindle others” “Looking forward for an everlasting scientific relationship!”

From Nature • Dec. 13, 2016

That he could not enkindle in the heart of the child what was ashes in his own.

From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy

Hence it is not content to find fruit for the intelligence, but penetrates beyond to the will that it may there enkindle love.

From On Union with God by Berthier, P. J.

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023