candle
Americannoun
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candles
plural
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a long, usually slender piece of tallow or wax with an embedded wick that is burned to give light.
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something resembling a candle in appearance or use.
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Optics.
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(formerly) candela.
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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.
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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
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verb (used with object)
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candles,
present (3rd person singular)
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candled,
past participle, past
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candling
present participle
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to examine (eggs) for freshness, fertility, etc., by holding them up to a bright light.
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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
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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.
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burn the / one's candle at both ends. burn.
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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
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a cylindrical piece of wax, tallow, or other fatty substance surrounding a wick, which is burned to produce light
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physics
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another name for candela
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to exhaust oneself, esp by being up late and getting up early to work
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informal to be inferior or contemptible in comparison with
your dog doesn't hold a candle to mine
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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
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candlesimple
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candlessimple
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have candledperfect
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has candledperfect
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am candlingprogressive
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are candlingprogressive
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is candlingprogressive
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have been candlingperfect progressive
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has been candlingperfect progressive
Past
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candledsimple
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had candledperfect
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was candlingprogressive
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were candlingprogressive
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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:
Oh, yes, he was told: The stories “couldn’t hold a candle to the reality.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
The death of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal on Wednesday drove a "stunned" Lopez to lay a candle on Thursday at an improvised shrine in the Spanish capital's Puerta del Sol square, the epicentre of the protests.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
In a statement released by his office on Wednesday afternoon, Netanyahu said he had lit a memorial candle commemorating every victim of 7 October.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
It’s your job to manage both and make sure that you are not burning the candle at both ends.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026
Father relit the candle and joined his wife in hunting for the cause of the odd noises.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
I have a feeling those birthday candles lit a fire under you.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026
The situation escalates as the mariachi music begins playing and the couple approach a display of white roses and candles laid out on the grass.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026
To determine their intrinsic brightness, astronomers use other standard candles, such as Cepheid stars, in the galaxies nearby.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 4, 2026
Hindus light candles at Mount Mary, a Catholic basilica overlooking the city.
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026
With a resounding crash, everything—plates, candles, silverware, and food— fell to the floor.
From "Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher" by Bruce Coville
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
Sample eggs are then candled to determine whether the agent is properly infecting the embryos.
From Time Magazine Archive
If an egghead is candled, what shows up?
From Time Magazine Archive
Grilles, panels, mirror frames, all glimmered in green and gold, and a row of lustres, each multitudinously candled, hung from the lofty ceiling.
From Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 15 by Various
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
Aside from an earful of candle wax, candling could lead to infection, burns to the ear canal or eardrum--or burning hair.
From Time Magazine Archive
First: The encouragement of the cash buying of produce, and, if possible, the candling of all eggs with proper deduction for loss.
From The Dollar Hen by Milo M. (Milo Milton) Hastings
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.
