spread like wildfire
IdiomsExample Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The giant number spread like wildfire across the investment world—and not in a good way.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 2, 2026
It spread like wildfire on TikTok and Instagram, spawning its own hand gestures, and became so ubiquitous -- and annoying -- that it was reportedly banned in some US schools.
From Barron's • Nov. 26, 2025
It’s unclear when the video was made, but it emerged and spread like wildfire on social media after a Fox News reporter, citing unnamed sources, said it had triggered a federal probe into the politician.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 16, 2025
Yet still the conspiracy theories continued to spread like wildfire.
From Slate • Sep. 13, 2024
A false rumour that the whole household was being distributed free spread like wildfire; and before long the place was packed with people who had no business there, but could not be kept out.
From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien
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.
