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• brush fire
  brush fire

  noun

  a fire in an area of bushes, shrubs, or brush, as distinct from a forest fire.
• brush-fire
  brush-fire

  adjective

  limited in scope, area, or importance, as some labor disputes or local skirmishes.

brush fire

¹ American  

noun

1. a fire in an area of bushes, shrubs, or brush, as distinct from a forest fire.

2. any small but persistent problem, as within a large organization, a department of a government, or between nations.

   border skirmishes and other international brush fires.

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brush-fire ² American  

[bruhsh-fahy^uhr] / ˈbrʌʃˌfaɪər /

Or brushfire

adjective

1. limited in scope, area, or importance, as some labor disputes or local skirmishes.

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brush fire British  

noun

1. a fire in bushes and scrub

2. a minor local war

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Etymology

Origin of brush fire¹

An Americanism dating back to 1770–80

Origin of brush-fire²

First recorded in 1945–50

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

brush fire brush-fire

Reports in French media say the blaze, near one of the parking lots at the airport, originated from a brush fire and then spread to a building.

From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026

A brush fire erupted on the border of Los Angeles and Ventura counties amid sizzling temperatures Thursday afternoon, prompting evacuation warnings near Lake Piru.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026

A brush fire had been reported in the Juniper Springs neighborhood of Riverside County at 12:20 p.m. that day, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026

A second brush fire was reported in the Juniper Springs area of Riverside County at 12:20 p.m.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 20, 2026

Word of Katherine not feeling well gets around quicker than a brush fire in August.

From "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland

This approach would mimic the brush-fire pattern of the epidemic at the moment.

From Washington Post

But then the Charger's job is no more modern than its look; the turboprop plane is a jungle fighter, a volunteer for the brush-fire wars of today's world.

From Time Magazine Archive

Along with paratroopers in red berets who also marched, these troops are part of a mobile strike force that Russia is training to improve its capability for intervening in brush-fire wars around the world.

From Time Magazine Archive

But whatever was wrong with the sometimes tragic, sometimes messy operation, it still managed to keep a brush-fire war from spreading into a wider conflict.

From Time Magazine Archive

Quietly she sat in her cottage and heard, when the rumble of the outgoing wagons had died away, nothing but the buzzing of flies and the crackling of the brush-fire on her hearth.

From The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Masterpieces of German Literature Vol. 19 by Various