spread like wildfire
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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]
QUIZ
THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?
Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.
Question 1 of 7
In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…
Words nearby spread like wildfire
spreader, spreader beam, spreader-ditcher, spreading center, spreading zone, spread like wildfire, spread oneself too thin, spread option, spread sampling, spreadsheet, spreathed
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.