smolder Hear it!

smolder Definition

smol·der (smōl′dər)

intransitive verb

  1. to burn and smoke without flame; be consumed by slow combustion
  2. to exist in a suppressed state or with activity stifled
  3. to have or show feelings of suppressed anger or hate

Etymology: ME smoldren < Gmc *smul-: for IE base see smell

noun

the act or condition of smoldering

smolder Synonyms

smolder

v.

fume, consume, steam; see burn 1, smoke 1.

smolder Usage Examples

Object

  • wick: A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory.
  • fire: Do not give air to the smoldering fire within them by making them jealous.
  • ash: She descends into a fog of smoldering ash and into the center of the twisted reality of a town's terrible secret.
  • ruin: Below, the city's seventeenth century Ottoman mosque, a symbol of the region's multi-ethnic past, lay in smoldering ruins.
  • field: We share the same terrible images: the Towers falling, the Pentagon in flames, and the smoldering field in Pennsylvania.
  • star: Its density is 20+ times that of earth being a slow smoldering brown dwarf star.

Modifying Another Word

  • still: It might have come from the center of the world, this smoke, where the fires of the ages still smolder.

Noun used with modifier

  • incense: If you let your dhoop incense smolder, your cone will probably burn like this, for about 30 minutes.