set the world on fire

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Perform an outstanding feat and win fame, as in An ambitious man, he longed to set the world on fire with his inventions. This hyperbolic expression uses set on fire in the sense of “arouse excitement in.” Also see set on fire, def. 2.

QUIZ

SHALL WE PLAY A "SHALL" VS. "SHOULD" CHALLENGE?

Should you take this quiz on “shall” versus “should”? It should prove to be a quick challenge!

Question 1 of 6

Which form is used to state an obligation or duty someone has?

shall

should

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Words nearby set the world on fire

set the pace, set the record straight, set the scene for, set the table, set the wheels in motion, set the world on fire, setting, setting lotion, setting rule, setting-up exercise, settle

How to use set the world on fire in a sentence

When cities started adding chlorine to their water supplies, in the early 1900s, it set off public outcry.
Anti-Fluoriders Are The OG Anti-Vaxxers|Michael Schulson|July 27, 2016|DAILY BEAST
Just the hard-on before you shoot unarmed members of the public.
'Babylon' Review: The Dumb Lives of Trigger-Happy Cops|Melissa Leon|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
France 24 is providing live, round-the-clock coverage of both scenes as they progress.
LIVE Coverage of the Paris Terror Attacks||January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
But what is there more irresponsible than playing with the fire of an imagined civil war in the France of today?
Houellebecq’s Incendiary Novel Imagines France With a Muslim President|Pierre Assouline|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST

Submission is set in a France seven years from now that is dominated by a Muslim president intent on imposing Islamic law.
Houellebecq’s Incendiary Novel Imagines France With a Muslim President|Pierre Assouline|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Descending the Alps to the east or south into Piedmont, a new world lies around and before you.
Glances at Europe|Horace Greeley
You would not think it too much to set the whole province in flames so that you could have your way with this wretched child.
St. Martin's Summer|Rafael Sabatini
All over the world the just claims of organized labor are intermingled with the underground conspiracy of social revolution.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice|Stephen Leacock
There seems something in that also which I could spare only very reluctantly from a new Bible in the world.
The Salvaging Of Civilisation|H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
I take the Extream Bells, and set down the six Changes on them thus.
Tintinnalogia, or, the Art of Ringing|Richard Duckworth and Fabian Stedman