smolder

or smoul·der

[smohl-der]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR smolder ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used without object)

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.

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

Related formsun·smol·der·ing, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for smolder

explode, fester, erupt, seethe, boil, consume, bubble, fume, fulminate, smoke, ferment, churn, stir, steam

Examples from the Web for smolder

Contemporary Examples of smolder

The embers of guilt over the entire episode are placed deep within Hilly, where it will smolder for the rest of his life.
When Surprise Endings Work: Stuart Nadler’s ‘Wise Men’
Nicholas Mancusi
February 13, 2013
Nevertheless, it continues to smolder away in Chicago, posing a potential threat to the Obama administration.
What Will the Fallout Be for Obama?
The Daily Beast
July 10, 2010
Arson…Whole streets of tenements and warehouses abandoned to smolder.
The Great New York Novel
Taylor Antrim
June 23, 2009
Rob can just sort of stand there and look at something and start to smolder.
Dirty Harry
Kevin Sessums
January 26, 2009

Historical Examples of smolder

There was no longer a smolder in Latisan—it was all a red flame!
Joan of Arc of the North Woods
Holman Day
The flame of discontent, nevertheless, continued to smolder.
The Hispanic Nations of the New World
William R. Shepherd
The decks of the Savissan craft were beginning to smolder, and her arrow fire was weakening.
The Golden Amazons of Venus
John Murray Reynolds
Conan's eyes began to smolder ominously, but he trod warily into the chamber, his sword ready.
Shadows in Zamboula
Robert E. Howard
For a Zamboulan dancer to blush would be an impossibility, but a smolder of anger mingled with the fear in Zabibi's dilated eyes.
Shadows in Zamboula
Robert E. Howard

British Dictionary definitions for smolder

smolder

verb, noun

the US spelling of smoulder

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

Word Origin and History for smolder

c.1300 (implied in smoldering), "to smother, suffocate," related to Middle Dutch smolen, Low German smelen, Flemish smoel "hot," from Proto-Germanic *smel-, *smul-. The intransitive meaning "burn and smoke without flame" is first recorded 1520s, fell from use 17c. (though smoldering persisted in poetry) and was revived 19c. Figurative sense "exist in a suppressed state; burn inwardly" is from 1810. Related: Smouldered; smolderingly. Middle English also had a noun smolder meaning "smoky vapor, a stifling smoke."