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flare

noun · verb

Simple meaning

A device that produces a bright light for warning or illumination or identification.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

flehr
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈflɛɹ

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A device that produces a bright light for warning or illumination or identification

  2. A source of brightly burning light or intense heat.

  3. A sudden bright light.

  4. A type of pyrotechnic that produces a brilliant light without an explosion, used to attract attention in an emergency, to illuminate an area, or as a decoy.

  5. A sudden eruption of intense high-energy radiation from the sun's surface; associated with sunspots and radio interference

  6. A burst of light used to communicate or illuminate

verb

  1. transitive

    To cause to burn; in particular, to burn off excess gas.

  2. transitive

    To cause inflammation; to inflame.

  3. intransitive

    To blaze brightly.

  4. intransitive

    To shine out with a sudden and unsteady light; to emit a dazzling or painfully bright light.

  5. intransitivefiguratively

    To shine out with gaudy colours; to be offensively bright or showy.

  6. intransitivefiguratively

    To suddenly happen or intensify.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A device that produces a bright light for warning or illumination or identification

Used this way, flare 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 flare

  • “He threw a flare to the fullback who was tackled for a loss.”noun
  • “The skirt had a wide flare.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Device / sudden

lens flareflare gunsudden flare

Other combinations

red flareacute flare

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • flare-upnounCompound term

    A sudden intense happening.

  • flare outverbCompound term

    Become flared and widen, usually at one end.

  • flare passnounCompound term

    A short forward pass to a back who is running toward the sidelines.

  • flare pathnounCompound term

    An airstrip outline with lights to guide an airplane pilot in landing.

  • flare starnounCompound term

    A red dwarf star in which luminosity can change several magnitudes in a few minutes.

  • solar flarenounCompound term

    A sudden eruption of intense high-energy radiation from the sun's surface.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: device that produces a bright light for warning

flash

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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.