What does "blaze" mean?
A fire, especially a fast-burning fire producing a lot of flames and light.
Blaze
/bleɪz/ name, noun, verb, slang
name, noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A fire, especially a fast-burning fire producing a lot of flames and light.
- Grammar: blaze is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: brilliance, glare, aflare, arrow.
- Useful contrasts: dim, drabness, dullness.
- Usage evidence: Twenty people perished in the blaze.
How to use "blaze"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "blaze" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "blaze" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "blaze" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "blaze" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "blaze" is acting as name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "brilliance" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "blaze", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A fire, especially a fast-burning fire producing a lot of flames and light.
"Long after his cigar burnt bitter, he sat with eyes fixed on the blaze. When the flames at last began to flicker and subside, his lids fluttered, then drooped; but he had lost all reckoning of time when he opened them again to find Miss Erroll in furs and ball-gown kneeling on the hearth and heaping kindling on the coals,[…]."
- 2 The white or lighter-coloured markings on a horse's face.
"The palomino had a white blaze on its face."
- 3 Publication; the act of spreading widely by report.
- 4 noisy and unrestrained mischief wordnet
- 5 Intense, direct light accompanied with heat.
"They sought shelter from the blaze of the sun."
Show 9 more definitions
- 6 A spot made on trees by chipping off a piece of the bark, usually as a surveyor's mark.
"The blaze is a longitudinal cut on trees at convenient intervals, made by cutting off the bark with an axe or hatchet: three blazes in a perpendicular line on the same tree indicating a legislative road, the single blaze, a settlement or neighbourhood road."
- 7 a light-colored marking wordnet
- 8 A high-visibility orange colour, typically used in warning signs and hunters' clothing.
- 9 A waymark: any marking as painted on trees, carvings, affixed markers, posts, flagging, or crosses placed to lead hikers on their trail.
- 10 a light within the field of vision that is brighter than the brightness to which the eyes are adapted wordnet
- 11 A bursting out, or active display of any quality.
"his blaze of wrath"
- 12 a cause of difficulty and suffering wordnet
- 13 A hand consisting of five face cards.
- 14 a strong flame that burns brightly wordnet
Verb
- 1 To be on fire, especially producing bright flames. intransitive
"The campfire blazed merrily."
- 2 To mark with a white spot on the face (as a horse). transitive
- 3 To blow, as from a trumpet. transitive
- 4 indicate by marking trees with blazes wordnet
- 5 To send forth or reflect a bright light; shine like a flame. intransitive
"And far and wide the icy summit blaze."
Show 16 more definitions
- 6 To set a mark on (as a tree, usually by cutting off a piece of its bark). transitive
"They had, just as we expected they would, cut Stuart’s tracks, and had actually slept one night in one of his old camping-places, finding the trees “blazed” and marked “S.,” as were all the trees at intervals along his line of exploration."
- 7 To publish; announce publicly. transitive
- 8 shoot rapidly and repeatedly wordnet
- 9 To be conspicuous; shine brightly a brilliancy (of talents, deeds, etc.). intransitive, poetic
- 10 To indicate or mark out (a trail, especially through vegetation) by a series of blazes. transitive
"The guide blazed his way through the undergrowth."
- 11 To disclose; bewray; defame. transitive
- 12 move rapidly and as if blazing wordnet
- 13 To set in a blaze; burn. rare, transitive
- 14 To mark off or stake a claim to land. transitive
"He blazed his claim on the land."
- 15 To blazon. transitive
"And nowe here is another crosse for your learning, and is thus blazed. The field is Argét, a playn crosse Gules, voyded of the first."
- 16 burn brightly and intensely wordnet
- 17 To cause to shine forth; exhibit vividly; be resplendent with. transitive
- 18 To set a precedent for the taking-on of a challenge; lead by example. figuratively, transitive
"Darwin blazed a path for the rest of us."
- 19 shine brightly and intensively wordnet
- 20 To be furiously angry; to speak or write in a rage. figuratively
"“I’ll die before I let my grandad pay you that much money!” blazed the girl."
- 21 To smoke marijuana. slang
"I take a hit of that chronic, it got me stuck / But really what’s amazing is how I keep blazing"
Proper Noun
- 1 A male given name from Latin.
- 2 A surname originating as a patronymic.
Antonyms
Example
"Twenty people perished in the blaze."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "blaze"?
Common synonyms include: brilliance, glare, aflare, arrow, backfire, bake.
How do you use "blaze" in a sentence?
Twenty people perished in the blaze.
How do you pronounce "blaze"?
Pronounced /bleɪz/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English blase, from Old English blæse, blase (“firebrand, torch, lamp, flame”), from Proto-West Germanic *blasā, from Proto-Germanic *blasǭ (“torch”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to shine, be white”). Cognate with Low German blas (“burning candle, torch, fire”), Middle High German blas (“candle, torch, flame”).
Etymology 2
From Middle English blasen, from Middle English blase (“torch”). See above.
Etymology 3
] A 1639 borrowing, perhaps from Dutch bles or Middle Low German blesse, bles, ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *blasī, from Proto-Germanic *blasį̄, from *blasaz (“white, pale (of animals)”) + *-į̄ (forming nouns), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“shiny, white”). Cognate with German Blesse, Swedish bläs. The verb is from the noun.
Etymology 4
From Middle English blasen (“to blow”), from Old English *blǣsan, from Proto-West Germanic *blāsan, from Proto-Germanic *blēsaną (“to blow”). Related to English blast.
Etymology 5
Variant of Blaise.