inflame
verb
Simple meaning
To kindle or intensify.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ihnflaymSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɪnfˈleɪm
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.
verb
transitivefiguratively
To kindle or intensify (a feeling, as passion or appetite); to excite to an excessive or unnatural action or heat.
transitive
To set on fire; to kindle; to cause to burn, flame, or glow.
Cause inflammation in
“The repetitive motion inflamed her joint.”
Catch fire
intransitive
To grow morbidly hot, congested, or painful; to become angry or incensed.
transitive
To put in a state of inflammation; to produce morbid heat, congestion, or swelling, of.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To kindle or intensify (a feeling, as passion or appetite); to excite to an excessive or unnatural action or heat.
Used this way, inflame 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
- No strong connotation
- 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 inflame
- “The repetitive motion inflamed her joint.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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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.