inflame

See also: inflamé

English

Etymology

From Middle English inflammen, enflamen, enflaumen, from Old French enflammer (“to inflame”), from Latin inflammō (“to kindle, set on fire”, verb), from in (“in, on”) + flamma (“flame”), equivalent to in- +‎ flame.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈfleɪm/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪm
• Hyphenation: in‧flame

Verb

inflame (third-person singular simple present inflames, present participle inflaming, simple past and past participle inflamed)

1. (transitive) To set on fire; to kindle; to cause to burn, flame, or glow.
   • [1611?], Homer, “(please specify |book=I to XXIV)”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., The Iliads of Homer Prince of Poets. […], London: […] Nathaniell Butter, OCLC 614803194; The Iliads of Homer, Prince of Poets, […], volume (please specify the book number), new edition, London: Charles Knight and Co., […], 1843, OCLC 987451361:

     We should have made retreat / By light of the inflamed fleet.

   • 1979, J.G. Ballard, The Unlimited Dream Company, chapter 7:

     Along the perimeter road the police car approached, headlamps inflaming the afternoon sunlight.

2. (transitive, figuratively) To kindle or intensify (a feeling, as passion or appetite); to excite to an excessive or unnatural action or heat.

   to inflame desire

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:

     more, it seems, inflamed with lust than rage

   • 1690, John Dryden, Creator Spirit! by whose aid

     But, O inflame and fire our hearts.

   • 2017 August 25, "Arrest threat as Yingluck Shinawatra misses verdict", in aljazeera.com, Al Jazeera:

     The long-awaited verdict could inflame tension in the Southeast Asian country and have far-reaching implications in the politically divided kingdom.

3. (transitive) To provoke (a person) to anger or rage; to exasperate; to irritate; to incense; to enrage.
   • 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene ii]:

     It will inflame you; it will make you mad.

   • 1692 (indicated as 1693), Cotton Mather, “Enchantments Encountred”, in The Wonders of the Invisible World. Observations as well Historical as Theological, upon the Nature, the Number, and the Operations of the Devils. […], Boston, Mass.: […] Benjamin Harris, OCLC 78789775:

     To VVrangle the Devil, out of the Country, vvill be truly a Nevv Experiment! Alas, vve are not Avvare of the Devil, if vve do not think, that he aims at Enflaming us one againſt another; & ſhall vve ſuffer our ſelves to be Devil-Ridden? or, by any Vnadviſableneſs, contribute unto the VVidening of our Breaches?

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 4293071:

     To Edward […] he was terrible, nerve-inflaming, poisonously asphyxiating. He sat rocking himself in the late Mr. Churchill's swing chair, smoking and twaddling.

   • April 5 2022, Tina Brown, “How Princess Diana’s Dance With the Media Impacted William and Harry”, in Vanity Fair‎^[1]:

     Even though no one had known about the plan in advance, the paparazzi were waiting at the door as they left the nightclub. Lalvani told me, “Whether Harry’s Bar called them or she tipped them off, I don’t know.” (I think we do.) He realizes now that she was using him to inflame the true object of her affections, Hasnat Khan. The pictures of Lalvani and Diana that appeared the next day were the whole point.

     adapted from the book The Palace Papers, published 2022 by Penguin Books

4. (transitive) To put in a state of inflammation; to produce morbid heat, congestion, or swelling, of.

   to inflame the eyes by overwork

5. To exaggerate; to enlarge upon.
   • 1712 June 18 (Gregorian calendar)​, Joseph Addison; Richard Steele [et al.], “SATURDAY, June 7, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 359; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume IV, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, OCLC 191120697:

     A friend exaggerates a man's virtues, an enemy inflames his crimes.

   • 1773, [Oliver] Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer: Or, The Mistakes of a Night. A Comedy. […], London: […] F[rancis] Newbery, […], OCLC 973672395, (please specify the page):

     As you say, we passengers are to be taxed to pay all these fineries. I have often seen a good sideboard, or a marble chimney-piece, though not actually put in the bill, inflame a reckoning confoundedly.

6. (intransitive) To grow morbidly hot, congested, or painful; to become angry or incensed.

Alternative forms

• enflame

Synonyms

(set on fire): kindle, fire (intensify or excite (feeling)): provoke, kindle, arouse, excite (provoke a person to anger): incense, irritate, enrage, exasperate, anger

Related terms

• inflammable
• inflammatory
• inflammation

Translations

to set on fire

• Bulgarian: запалвам (bg) (zapalvam)
• Finnish: sytyttää (fi)
• French: allumer (fr)
• German: anzünden (de), entflammen (de)
• Irish: adhain
• Italian: incendiare (it)
• Sardinian:

  Logudorese: affoghizare

to kindle or intensify

• Bulgarian: разпалвам (bg) (razpalvam)
• Finnish: herättää (fi)
• German: anregen (de)

to provoke to anger or rage

• Finnish: lietsoa (fi)
• German: aufregen (de), erzürnen (de)
• Maori: whakakoikoi

to put in a state of inflammation

• Bulgarian: възпалявам (bg) (vǎzpaljavam)
• Czech: zanít
• Esperanto: inflamigi
• Finnish: tulehduttaa (fi)
• German: sich entzünden
• Portuguese: inflamar (pt)

to exaggerate

• Bulgarian: преувеличавам (bg) (preuveličavam)
• Finnish: liioitella (fi)
• German: aufpeitschen

to grow morbidly hot, congested, or painful

• Esperanto: inflami
• Finnish: tulehtua (fi)
• Galician: asañar (gl), inflamar (gl)
• German: aufbrausen

Further reading

• inflame in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• inflame in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911

Anagrams

• feminal

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Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ĩˈflɐ̃.mi/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ĩˈflɐ̃.mi/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ĩˈflɐ.me/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ĩˈflɐ.m(ɨ)/

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -ɐmɨ, (Brazil) -ɐ̃mi
• Hyphenation: in‧fla‧me

Verb

inflame

1. inflection of inflamar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

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Spanish

Verb

inflame

1. inflection of inflamar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative
2. second-person singular voseo imperative of inflar combined with me