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; The Iliads of Homer, Prince of Poets, […], new edition, volumes (please specify the book number), London: Charles Knight and Co., […], 1843, →OCLC:

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

     The spelling has been modernized.

   • 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; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     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, [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:

     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:

     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:

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

     The spelling has been modernized.

   • 1773, [Oliver] Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer: Or, The Mistakes of a Night. A Comedy. […], London: […] F[rancis] Newbery, […], →OCLC, (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.
   • 1941, Theodore Roethke, “Feud”, in Open House; republished in The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke, 1975, →ISBN, page 4:

     You meditate upon the nerves,
     Inflame with hate. This ancient feud
     Is seldom won. […]

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)
• Czech: roznítit pf, zapálit (cs) pf
• Finnish: sytyttää (fi)
• French: allumer (fr)
• German: anzünden (de), entflammen (de)
• Ingrian: virittää, syttää, sytyttää
• Irish: adhain
• Italian: incendiare (it)
• Sardinian:

  Logudorese: affoghizare

to kindle or intensify

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

to provoke to anger or rage

• Czech: roznítit pf, rozdmýchat pf
• Finnish: lietsoa (fi)
• German: aufregen (de), erzürnen (de)
• Maori: whakakoikoi

to put in a state of inflammation

• Bulgarian: възпалявам (bg) (vǎzpaljavam)
• Czech: zanítit pf, vyvolat zánět pf
• 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 (de)

Further reading

• “inflame”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “inflame”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• feminal

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ĩˈflɐ̃.mi/

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

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ĩˈflɐ.mɨ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ĩˈflɐ.mɨ/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ĩˈfla.mɨ/

• 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

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