wildfire
pronunciation
How to pronounce wildfire in British English:
UK [ˈwaɪldfaɪə(r)]
How to pronounce wildfire in American English:
US [ˈwaɪldˌfaɪr]
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- Noun:
- a raging and rapidly spreading conflagration
Word Origin
- wildfire (n.)
- late Old English wilde fyr "destructive fire" (perhaps caused by lightning); also "erysipelas, spreading skin disease;" see from wild (adj.) + fire (n.). From c. 1300 as "Greek fire," also fire rained down from the sky as divine retribution. Figurative sense from late 14c. By 1795 as "sheet lightning."
Example
- 1. Where luther 's works spread like wildfire their pamphlets fizzled .
- 2. Where luther 's works spread like wildfire , their pamphlets fizzled .
- 3. Although these titbits of gossip are not published , they spread like wildfire .
- 4. Rumours of gruesome killings of alawites by dissidents have spread like wildfire .
- 5. Vari , greece : a firefighting helicopter flies through smoke from a wildfire .