SMOLDER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does smolder mean? 

• SMOLDER (noun)
  The noun SMOLDER has 1 sense:

1. a fire that burns with thick smoke but no flame

  Familiarity information: SMOLDER used as a noun is very rare.

• SMOLDER (verb)
  The verb SMOLDER has 2 senses:

1. burn slowly and without a flame

2. have strong suppressed feelings

  Familiarity information: SMOLDER used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SMOLDER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A fire that burns with thick smoke but no flame

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

smolder; smoulder

Context example:

the smoulder suddenly became a blaze

Hypernyms ("smolder" is a kind of...):

fire (the event of something burning (often destructive))

• SMOLDER (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they smolder    ... he / she / it smolders   
Past simple: smoldered   
Past participle: smoldered   
-ing form: smoldering   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Burn slowly and without a flame

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

smolder; smoulder

Context example:

a smoldering fire

Hypernyms (to "smolder" is one way to...):

burn; combust (undergo combustion)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 2

Meaning:

Have strong suppressed feelings

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

smolder; smoulder

Hypernyms (to "smolder" is one way to...):

experience; feel (undergo an emotional sensation or be in a particular state of mind)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

 Context examples 

Clinical variants include non-secretory myeloma, smoldering myeloma, indolent myeloma, and plasma cell leukemia.

(Plasma cell myeloma, NCI Thesaurus/WHO)

While some of the lesions heal, completely or partially, other lesions remain and rimmed ones appear to actively expand, or “smolder”, for many years.

(Smoldering spots in the brain may signal severe multiple sclerosis, National Institutes of Health)

Vivid orchids and wonderful colored lichens smoldered upon the swarthy tree-trunks and where a wandering shaft of light fell full upon the golden allamanda, the scarlet star-clusters of the tacsonia, or the rich deep blue of ipomaea, the effect was as a dream of fairyland.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

National Institutes of Health (NIH) researchers peered inside the brains of hundreds of multiple sclerosis patients and found that dark rimmed spots representing ongoing, smoldering inflammation, called chronic active lesions, may be a hallmark of more aggressive and disabling forms of the disease.

(Smoldering spots in the brain may signal severe multiple sclerosis, National Institutes of Health)