Brushfire
noun
noun ·2 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A large fire in a scrubland or prairie, as opposed to a forest fire, which occurs in forests.
- 2 A war that arises suddenly and is limited in scope or area. attributive, figuratively
"It may be a brushfire operation or an operation on the scale of the Korean war; it will certainly not involve the home territories of the United States and Soviet Russia as theaters of hostilities."
Example
More examples"It may be a brushfire operation or an operation on the scale of the Korean war; it will certainly not involve the home territories of the United States and Soviet Russia as theaters of hostilities."
Etymology
From brush + fire.
Related phrases
More for "brushfire"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.