flame
noun · adjective · verb
Simple meaning
The visible part of fire.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
flaymIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈfleɪm
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The visible part of fire; a stream of burning vapour or gas, emitting light and heat.
Burning zeal, passion, imagination, excitement, or anger.
A romantic partner or lover in a usually short-lived but passionate affair.
A brilliant reddish orange-gold fiery colour.
adjective
Of a brilliant reddish orange-gold colour, like that of a flame.
verb
To burst forth like flame; to break out in violence of passion; to be kindled with zeal or ardour.
Be in flames or aflame
“The sky seemed to flame in the Hawaiian sunset.”
To produce flames; to burn with a flame or blaze.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The visible part of fire; a stream of burning vapour or gas, emitting light and heat.
Used this way, flame is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use flame
- “The person who posted an inflammatory message got flamed.”verb
- “The sky seemed to flame in the Hawaiian sunset.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Visible / combustion
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
The process of combustion of inflammable materials producing heat and light and (often) smoke.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Purplish-red table grape.
A terrestrial evergreen shrub or small tree of western Australia having brilliant yellow-orange flowers.
Burn brightly.
California wild poppy with bright red flowers.
Australian shrub having simple obovate leaves and brilliant scarlet flowers.
Organ of excretion in flatworms.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.