Synonyms for inflame
Synonyms by meaning
Verb
1. Irritate — to cause (someone, or their heart, mind, etc.) to feel strong desire or other feelings; to excite (someone)…
irritate, exasperate, infuriate, anger, enrage, aggravate, rile, exacerbate, roil, rankle, burn up, outrage, get, put out, madden, gall, chafe, nettle, embitter, envenom, offend, annoy
2. Ignite — to excite or intensify (a feeling, such as an appetite or passion), especially to an excessive or unnatural…
ignite, incite, provoke, stir up, arouse, stimulate, excite, rouse, foment, kindle, fire, stoke, set fire to, set on fire, instigate, stir, goad, galvanize, galvanise UK, enliven, animate, wake, urge
3. Set alight — to set (someone or something) on fire; to cause (someone or something) to burn, flame, or glow; to kindle
Definitions
- v. 1
To set (someone or something) on fire; to cause (someone or something) to burn, flame, or glow; to kindle.
- v. 2
To cause (someone, or their heart, mind, etc.) to feel strong desire or other feelings; to excite (someone) to great passion; specifically, to cause (someone) to feel anger or rage; to anger, to enrage, to incense.
- v. 3
To excite or intensify (a feeling, such as an appetite or passion), especially to an excessive or unnatural level.
Related words
- Word family
- inflamed inflaming inflammable inflammation inflammatory
Forms
- Past participle
- inflamed
e.g. inflamed → irritated, exasperated, infuriated, angered…
Example sentences
- anger Susan broke the dish on purpose to show her anger.
- irritate What kind of things does Tom do that irritate you?
- infuriate Sami's behavior started to infuriate Layla.
- exasperate Sorry, I didn't mean to exasperate you with my endless questions.
- ignite What you wish to ignite in another must burn inside you.
- incite The speaker tried to incite the people to rebellion.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| inflame | steady | |
| anger | rising | |
| irritate | rising | |
| infuriate | rising | |
| exasperate | steady | |
| ignite | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 3 letters
- get1
- 4 letters
- fire2, wake1, urge1, stir1, gall1, goad1, rile1, roil1
- 5 letters
- light1, anger2, stoke1, torch1, annoy2, rouse1, chafe1
- 6 letters
- kindle2, offend2, madden2, ignite2, excite2, incite2, arouse2, nettle2, enrage2, foment2, rankle2
- 7 letters
- outrage2, provoke2, animate3, enliven3, envenom
- 8 letters
- irritate3, embitter3
- 9 letters
- stimulate3, aggravate3, instigate3, infuriate4, galvanize3, galvanise
- 10 letters
- exacerbate4, exasperate4
- 11 letters
- conflagrate
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (fire2 = 2 syllables).