smolder
Americanverb (used without object)
-
smolders,
present (3rd person singular)
-
smoldered,
past participle, past
-
smoldering
present participle
-
to burn without flame; undergo slow or suppressed combustion.
-
to exist or continue in a suppressed state or without outward demonstration.
Hatred smoldered beneath a polite surface.
-
to display repressed feelings, as of indignation, anger, or the like.
to smolder with rage.
noun
-
dense smoke resulting from slow or suppressed combustion.
-
a smoldering fire.
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
smoldersimple
-
smolderssimple
-
have smolderedperfect
-
has smolderedperfect
-
am smolderingprogressive
-
are smolderingprogressive
-
is smolderingprogressive
-
have been smolderingperfect progressive
-
has been smolderingperfect progressive
Past
-
smolderedsimple
-
had smolderedperfect
-
was smolderingprogressive
-
were smolderingprogressive
-
had been smolderingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of smolder
1275–1325; (noun) Middle English smolder smoky vapor, dissimilated variant of smorther smother; (v.) Middle English (as present participle smolderende ), derivative of the noun
Explanation
When a fire is barely burning, it's smoldering. Fires can smolder for days without anyone's knowing, then burst into a conflagration that gets the fire department sirens wailing all over town. Smolder is a word that is often used figuratively to describe situations or people's feelings. You might say tensions between the North and South smoldered for years before the outbreak of the Civil War. And if your school cafeteria eliminates tater tots from the menu, students' smoldering dissatisfaction with the menu options might erupt into all-out food fight.
Vocabulary lists containing smolder
List 8
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Hatchet
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Touching Spirit Bear
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
Chandler flexes the charisma that made his “Friday Night Lights” father figure Coach Taylor such an indelible figure, while Pierre’s buttoned-down smolder slowly simmers the tension between them.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026
"Peatlands and organic soils can smolder for weeks to years, releasing enormous amounts of ancient carbon."
From Science Daily ● Mar. 4, 2026
Passions still smolder below the surface, but there is not enough oxygen to let them flame into life.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 7, 2026
“Wildfires tend to smolder for long periods of time,” Araujo testified.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 27, 2025
The firefighters held their position until the fierce heat began to singe the hair on their heads and arms, and their clothes began to smolder.
From "The Great Fire" by Jim Murphy
In Kim Eunho’s 1927 ink and color painting on silk, “Woman Reading the Fortune of the Day,” a hostess in traditional hanbok dress whiles away her break with gaming tiles as a cigarette smolders nearby.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 6, 2026
In "The Underground Railroad" he smolders as Royal, a free Black man who rescues an enslaved woman, Cora, from a heartless bounty hunter who never stops chasing her.
From Salon ● Dec. 26, 2021
As the Alisal fire smolders in Santa Barbara County, residents in Los Angeles and Ventura counties on Friday were bracing for the arrival of critical fire weather and the threat of Santa Ana winds.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2021
Independent analyst Valery Karbalevich said that while the Russian money has buttressed Lukashenko’s rule for now, the broad discontent smolders and could spill over at any moment.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 8, 2021
The trees seethe and the house smolders, and standing in the gravel of the driveway, the daylight nearly finished, the locksmith has an unsettling thought: Someone might be coming for us.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
The Lachman fire smoldered underground for a week before exploding into the deadly Palisades fire on Jan. 7, 2025.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026
Prosecutors allege the evidence shows the Lachman fire — which officials thought had been extinguished hours by Jan. 2 — smoldered for days and reignited amid hurricane-force winds on Jan. 7.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2026
The blaze, which firefighters had said was contained hours later, smoldered underground in dense vegetation for days until powerful winds on Jan. 7 caused it to spread, authorities said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2025
A thin, rusty coil of sun smoldered through a patch in the clouds.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 28, 2025
And gone are virtually all the boomtowns that smoldered from morning until night.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
Firefighters and police, some wearing face masks, were working amid the twisted, smoldering wreckage of the aircraft.
From Barron's ● Aug. 2, 2026
Firefighters and police were working at the scene amid the twisted, smoldering wreckage of the aircraft, images posted on Facebook by local news outlets revealed.
From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026
But Lineage has contracted a private fire company to continue flowing water into smoldering areas of the rubble when needed as crews work to remove the debris, according to the mayor’s office.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
“Heartbroken beyond words,” Hilton wrote while sharing live ABC7 footage of the smoldering remains of her home.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 24, 2026
As I looked around I saw Trip’s tent lying half collapsed and smoldering in his fire.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
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.
