smolder
or smoul·der
- 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.
- dense smoke resulting from slow or suppressed combustion.
- a smoldering fire.
Origin of smolder
Related Words for smoldered
explode, fester, erupt, seethe, boil, consume, bubble, fume, fulminate, smoke, ferment, churn, stir, steamExamples from the Web for smoldered
Contemporary Examples of smoldered
The clothes that designer Stefano Pilati created for his final collection at YSL smoldered with audacity and dark sexuality.
But inner-city violence has smoldered for a long time, explains crime journalist Gavin Knight.
Historical Examples of smoldered
In his eyes an underglow, so to call it, smoldered with fascinating vagueness.
Eleven Possible CasesFrank R. Stockton
This was the temperament that smoldered in him: the lurking flame that he had to live with daily.
The Crow's NestClarence Day, Jr.
These smoldered until the storms of '48 fanned them into a fitful blaze.
Our ForeignersSamuel P. Orth
Burnt down, smoldered; suffocated by the hateful dust of the commonplace.
Different GirlsVarious
He smoldered inside, and he laid it to the stir and bustle and noise.
Poor Man's RockBertrand W. Sinclair
smolder
- the US spelling of smoulder
Word Origin and History for smoldered
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."