spread like wildfire
(Redirected from spread like wild fire)
English
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (General Australian): (file)
Verb
[edit]spread like wildfire (third-person singular simple present spreads like wildfire, present participle spreading like wildfire, simple past and past participle spread like wildfire)
- (intransitive, simile) To spread or disseminate rapidly or uncontrollably.
- The virus spread like wildfire throughout the Internet.
- 1789, The Gentleman's Magazine, page 651:
- The propaganda of the rebels spread like wild-fire, and the hopes of the more daring Irish Catholics rose high.
- 1941 October, “Notes and News: A Highland Runaway”, in Railway Magazine, page 469:
- "We can sense the tension in Perth," wrote the Scotsman, "when the news spread like wildfire that a runaway engine of ancient vintage was heading north without a soul on the footplate.
- 2023 May 31, Nadia Khomami, “Kylie Minogue ‘bursting with joy’ as new single Padam Padam soars up charts”, in The Guardian[1]:
- Inspired by Edith Piaf’s 1951 song of the same name, Padam Padam is a reference to the sound of the human heartbeat, and has spread like wildfire thanks to its infectious nature and brevity (it clocks in at 2 mins, 46 seconds).
Translations
[edit]spread or disseminate rapidly or uncontrollably
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