inflame
Americanverb (used with object)
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to kindle or excite (passions, desires, etc.).
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to arouse to a high degree of passion or feeling.
His harangue inflamed the rabble.
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to incite or rouse, as to violence.
His words inflamed the angry mob to riot.
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(of an emotion, as rage) to cause to redden or grow heated.
Uncontrollable rage inflamed his face.
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to cause inflammation in.
Her eyes were inflamed with crying.
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to raise (the blood, bodily tissue, etc.) to a morbid or feverish heat.
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to set aflame, ablaze, or afire; set on fire.
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to redden with or as with flames.
The setting sun inflames the sky.
verb (used without object)
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to burst into flame; take fire.
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to be kindled, as passion.
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to become hot with passion, as the heart.
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to become excessively affected with inflammation.
verb
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to arouse or become aroused to violent emotion
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(tr) to increase or intensify; aggravate
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to produce inflammation in (a tissue, organ, or part) or (of a tissue, etc) to become inflamed
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to set or be set on fire; kindle
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(tr) to cause to redden
Related Words
Other Word Forms
- inflamedness noun
- inflamer noun
- inflamingly adverb
- reinflame verb
- uninflamed adjective
Etymology
Origin of inflame
First recorded in 1300–50; in- 2 + flame; replacing Middle English enflammen, from Middle French enflammer, from Latin inflammāre “to kindle”
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.
Their captivity since July - during an earlier round of deadly clashes - has inflamed nationalist sentiment in Cambodia, their release being one of the main demands of the its government in the ceasefire talks with Thailand.
From BBC
The outgoing United Nations refugee chief fears an increasingly fragmented world is fuelling global conflicts and crises, and inflaming hostility towards people desperately fleeing for safety.
From Barron's
Shortly afterwards, he was diagnosed with necrotising enterocolitis, a condition which causes tissue in the intestines to become inflamed and start to die.
From BBC
Sarandos’s defense of the comedian further inflamed the situation when he said in a memo to staff that “content on screen doesn’t directly translate to real-world harm.”
The pattern is familiar: Elites hesitate to name antisemitism clearly for fear of inflaming tensions, only to discover that ambiguity emboldens extremists rather than restraining them.
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.
