flare-up
verb · noun
Simple meaning
Ignite quickly and suddenly.
Pronunciation
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
Ignite quickly and suddenly, especially after having died down
“The fire flared up and died down once again.”
noun
A sudden intense happening
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Typical Use
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Ignite quickly and suddenly, especially after having died down
Used this way, flare-up is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It comes across as direct, sometimes bluntly so.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Sudden and forceful
- Usage feel
- Blunt and forceful
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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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.