catch fire

English

Alternative forms

• catch on fire (sometimes proscribed)
• go on fire (informal, dialectal)

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Verb

catch fire (third-person singular simple present catches fire, present participle catching fire, simple past and past participle caught fire)

1. (idiomatic) To become engulfed in flames, to combust.

   Synonyms: go up in flames, go up in smoke

2. (figuratively) To become very popular or widespread; to take off.
   • 2002, Latifa Al-Zayyat, Marilyn Booth, The Open Door (page 9)

     The news caught fire through the school, and Layla found herself — a mere first-year student at the secondary school — the center of attention and admiration.

3. (figuratively) To be inspired by passion or zeal.

Translations

become engulfed in flames

• Armenian: կպչել (hy) (kpčʿel)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 起火 (zh) (qǐhuǒ), 失火 (zh) (shīhuǒ), 發火 (zh), 发火 (zh) (fāhuǒ)

• Dutch: vuur vatten
• Esperanto: bruliĝi
• Finnish: syttyä tuleen
• French: s'enflammer (fr), prendre feu (fr)
• German: Feuer fangen, entflammen (de)
• Japanese: 引火する (ja) (いんかする, inka suru)
• Korean: 인화(引火)하다 (inhwahada), 발화(發火)하다 (ko) (balhwahada)
• Latin: ardescō
• Malayalam: തീപിടിക്കുക (tīpiṭikkuka)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: antenne, fatte (no), fate, fenge (no), ta fyr

• Portuguese: pegar fogo
• Russian: загора́ться (ru) impf (zagorátʹsja), загоре́ться (ru) pf (zagorétʹsja), возгора́ться (ru) impf (vozgorátʹsja), возгоре́ться (ru) pf (vozgorétʹsja)
• Slovene: vneti se
• Spanish: prender (es)
• Swedish: fatta eld (sv), börja brinna, ta fyr
• Turkish: alev almak (tr)
• Walloon: prinde feu
• Welsh: mynd ar dân