English

Verb

inflame ‎(third-person singular simple present inflames, present participle inflaming, simple past and past participle inflamed)

1. To set on fire; to kindle; to cause to burn, flame, or glow.
   • Chapman

     We should have made retreat / By light of the inflamed fleet.

2. (figuratively) To kindle or intensify, as passion or appetite; to excite to an excessive or unnatural action or heat.

   to inflame desire

   • Milton

     more, it seems, inflamed with lust than rage

   • Dryden

     But, O inflame and fire our hearts.

3. To provoke to anger or rage; to exasperate; to irritate; to incense; to enrage.
   • Shakespeare

     It will inflame you; it will make you mad.

   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 12, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     To Edward […] he was terrible, nerve-inflaming, poisonously asphyxiating. He sat rocking himself in the late Mr. Churchill's swing chair, smoking and twaddling.

4. To put in a state of inflammation; to produce morbid heat, congestion, or swelling, of.

   to inflame the eyes by overwork

5. To exaggerate; to enlarge upon.
   • Addison

     A friend exaggerates a man's virtues, an enemy inflames his crimes.

   • 1773, Oliver Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer

     As you say, we passengers are to be taxed to pay all these fineries. I have often seen a good sideboard, or a marble chimney-piece, though not actually put in the bill, inflame a reckoning confoundedly.

6. To grow morbidly hot, congested, or painful; to become angry or incensed.

Synonyms

• provoke
• fire
• kindle
• irritate
• exasperate
• incense
• enrage
• anger
• excite
• arouse

Related terms

• inflammable
• inflammatory
• inflammation

Translations

External links

• inflame in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• inflame in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ami

Verb

inflame

1. First-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of inflamar
2. Third-person singular (ele, ela, also used with tu and você^?) present subjunctive of inflamar
3. Third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of inflamar
4. Third-person singular (você) negative imperative of inflamar

Spanish

Verb

inflame

1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of inflamar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of inflamar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of inflamar.