smolder.
To burn slowly, giving off smoke but with little to no flame.
Meaning & usage
To burn slowly, giving off smoke but with little to no flame.
The remains of the bonfire were left to smolder for hours.
To show signs of repressed anger or suppressed mental turmoil or other strong emotion, such as passion.
To exist in a suppressed or hidden state.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English smolderen (“to suffocate, stifle”), from Middle English smolder (“smoke, smoky vapour”), ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *smolōn (“to burn, glow, fume, smoulder”). Related to Proto-West Germanic *smallijan (> English smell).
The act of smoldering or something that smolders.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English smolderen (“to suffocate, stifle”), from Middle English smolder (“smoke, smoky vapour”), ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *smolōn (“to burn, glow, fume, smoulder”). Related to Proto-West Germanic *smallijan (> English smell).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.