spread like wildfire

1. Disseminate or circulate very quickly, as in The rumor about their divorce spread like wildfire. The noun wildfire means “a raging, rapidly spreading conflagration.” [c. 1800]

Example Sentences

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.

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“People at first thought the whistles were a joke. But then we used them once and la migra took off — and it spread like wildfire.”

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"Flu can spread like wildfire across schools and can make children really unwell," he said.

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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.

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"It's frankly ridiculous and insulting that he says they tried to throw a protective ring around care homes when his department's policies caused Covid to spread like wildfire amongst society's most vulnerable loved ones," she said.

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Related Words

• beset 
• choke 
• deluge 
• inundate 
• invade 
• overflow 
• overwhelm 
• ravage