spread like wildfire

Idioms  

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]

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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.

From Barron's

If a lab test were able to measure cellular immunity as easily as antibodies, “that would spread like wildfire, because everyone is searching for one,” Meissner said.

From Los Angeles Times

“At first we didn’t know whether it was going to work, but then the word of mouth spread like wildfire.”

From New York Times

“At this point, conspiracy theories have become so ingrained in people’s psyche and because of social media, they spread like wildfire,” said Mia Bloom, a Georgia State University professor who recently authored a book examining the QAnon conspiracy theory.

From Seattle Times

How much of the current surge is due to waning immunity versus the power of the Delta variant to spread like wildfire is uncertain.

From Science Magazine

Related Words

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