candle
Americannoun
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a long, usually slender piece of tallow or wax with an embedded wick that is burned to give light.
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something resembling a candle in appearance or use.
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Optics.
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(formerly) candela.
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Also called international candle. a unit of luminous intensity, defined as a fraction of the luminous intensity of a group of 45 carbon-filament lamps: used from 1909 to 1948 as the international standard.
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a unit of luminous intensity, equal to the luminous intensity of a wax candle of standard specifications: used prior to 1909 as the international standard. c., c
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verb (used with object)
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to examine (eggs) for freshness, fertility, etc., by holding them up to a bright light.
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to hold (a bottle of wine) in front of a lighted candle while decanting so as to detect sediment and prevent its being poured off with the wine.
idioms
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hold a candle to, to compare favorably with (usually used in the negative).
She's smart, but she can't hold a candle to her sister.
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burn the / one's candle at both ends. burn.
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worth the candle, worth the trouble or effort involved (usually used in the negative).
Trying to win them over to your viewpoint is not worth the candle.
noun
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a cylindrical piece of wax, tallow, or other fatty substance surrounding a wick, which is burned to produce light
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physics
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another name for candela
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to exhaust oneself, esp by being up late and getting up early to work
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informal to be inferior or contemptible in comparison with
your dog doesn't hold a candle to mine
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informal not worth the price or trouble entailed (esp in the phrase the game's not worth the candle )
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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candlesimple
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candlessimple
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have candledperfect
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has candledperfect
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am candlingprogressive
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are candlingprogressive
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is candlingprogressive
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have been candlingperfect progressive
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has been candlingperfect progressive
Past
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candledsimple
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had candledperfect
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was candlingprogressive
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were candlingprogressive
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had been candlingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of candle
First recorded before 900; Middle English candel, candle, condel, Old English candel, condel, from Latin candēla, equivalent to cand(ēre) “to shine, gleam white” + -ēla noun suffix; see candid
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Argentina “doesn’t hold a candle to the greatest rivalry in sports—Barcelona vs. Real Madrid.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
Collider's Therese Lacson said, external the series "can't really hold a candle to the movie that started it all".
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2026
"Surf wax, which we put on the boards, is not available at all in Gaza, so we resort to candle wax so we can keep this sport going," he added.
From Barron's ● Jun. 22, 2026
On the fireplace mantel is a hot-dog candle, which matches the hot-dog vase in the kitchen, both of which go nicely with her “In My Hot Dog Era” T-shirt.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 20, 2026
Alexander and Beowulf each blacked an eye with candle soot, for they knew Boris and Constantin fought like two cats in a bag, as the saying goes, and often sported such bruises.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
At the vigil on Monday evening, people laid flowers and lit candles as they gathered in grief.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
They announced their engagement in September last year after Tom proposed in Dubai in front of the luxury hotel, Burj Al Arab, with a host of candles and flowers.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
I can still see my own mother covering her eyes as she lit our family’s Shabbos candles, whispering private prayers for her children.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 16, 2026
The candles retail between $42 to $50 for a pair, and recently, she developed a handsome pewter candle shaver that will be released in the winter.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
The camera people made Erlan and his brothers blow out the candles on their birthday cake three times, because they said they couldn’t get the angle right.
From Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff
Unlike with most poultry, the eggs cannot be candled to check on the embryo growing inside for the 52 days between laying and hatching.
From Seattle Times ● May 5, 2022
Early on, she candled eggs for a poultry farm while he played “frisbee on the green.”
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 20, 2018
Many so-so lines are salvaged by the neat professional finesse of Grant, Day and Meadows, with Gig Young contributing an amusing portrayal of a financial adviser who is having his head candled.
From Time Magazine Archive
He candled eggs in a grocery store, became a messenger boy for a bank, a cashier's assistant in the local Morrell packing plant, finally got a scholarship to Trinity College.
From Time Magazine Archive
As she squinted into the light, a shaft of Caribbean sun candled her deep-blue eyes.
From Caribbee by Hoover, Thomas
Unclear, though certificates on the walls congratulate her on her mastery of ear candling and reiki.
From New York Times ● Jan. 20, 2015
His wife, when not mothering their five boys and three girls, spent grueling days standing at a local produce house as she examined poultry eggs under a light - what they call candling.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 2, 2014
Sam Cruz, a 12-year IRS employee who works in candling, said he finds something left behind maybe two or three times for every thousand envelopes.
From Washington Post
Sufficiently accurate for commercial grading, candling does not give data detailed enough for scientists who wish to study methods of egg preservation.
From Time Magazine Archive
First: The encouragement of the cash buying of produce, and, if possible, the candling of all eggs with proper deduction for loss.
From The Dollar Hen by Hastings, Milo M. (Milo Milton)
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.
