flame

Pronunciation

• enPR: flām
• IPA ^(key): /fleɪm/
• SAMPA: /fleIm/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

Singular flame

Plural flames

A flame

1. (countable & uncountable) The part you can see in fire.

   We saw the flames burning the house.

   The firefighter's hat is as bright as a flame.

2. (countable) A flame is a lover that only lasts for a short time.

   He brought his flame to yesterday's party.

3. (countable) A flame is a strong comment on the internet to insult (hurt) someone else, making them angry.

   Today, someone in our forum started posting very mean flames.

   I posted that someone's idea was a bad idea, and I got a lot of flames for that.

Verb

Plain form flame

Third-person singular flames

Past tense flamed

Past participle flamed

Present participle flaming

1. (intransitive) To make flames.

   The pot in the kitchen started to flame when it was left to cook for too long.

2. (transitive) To write an insulting (hurtful) message on the internet to make people angry.

   My school peer started flaming in my email.

   Everybody in the newsgroup flamed me for saying that.