wildfire
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Old English wilde fȳr. Equivalent to wild + fire.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
wildfire (countable and uncountable, plural wildfires)
- A rapidly spreading fire, especially one occurring in a wildland area.
- Synonym: forest fire
- Hyponym: megafire
- Coordinate terms: brushfire, bushfire
- (historical) Greek fire, Byzantine fire.
- (dermatology) A spreading disease of the skin, particularly erysipelas.
- (figuratively) Something that acts or spreads quickly and uncontrollably.
- 2015 January 18, Monty Munford, “What’s the point of carrying a mobile phone nowadays?”, in The Daily Telegraph[1]:
- So, it appears a revolution has happened and a very unexpected one. Of course it was only a matter of time before it happened. With WiFi connectivity spreading faster than wildfire and a laptop or tablet in one’s bag, what’s the point of a mobile nowadays?
- 2022 December 9, Rachel Felder, “These Timex Dials Were Designed With a Jeweler’s Eye”, in The New York Times[2]:
- “It was my own personal watch and I wanted to change the face,” she said in an interview during a recent business trip to New York. “I started wearing it, and it was wildfire — everybody wanted one.”
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
rapidly spreading fire
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Greek fire — see Greek fire
spreading disease of the skin
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something that acts quickly and uncontrollably
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See also[edit]
Further reading[edit]
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English compound terms
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with historical senses
- en:Dermatology
- English terms with quotations
- en:Fire
- English adjective-noun compound nouns