Flare-up

noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A sudden outbreak, outburst or eruption (originally of flame, but now used more generally of any violent activity or emotion).

    "But what I do think is that there's likely to be a regular flare-up soon. And how can one tell where that may end? If only I could get Ambrose to take me away somewhere! But he won't budge."

  2. 2
    a sudden intense happening wordnet
  3. 3
    A sudden intensification in activity.
  4. 4
    An inflammation such as of tendons (tendonitis) or joints (osteoarthritis).

    "Although Crohn disease and ulcerative colitis are chronic, they are characterized by periods of remission that last for varying amounts of time, interrupted by flare-ups, when symptoms of the disease become more evident."

Synonyms

All synonyms
accessbeaconbelchblazeblowupburst

Example

More examples

"There was a flare-up between local residents and state regulators."

Etymology

Deverbal from flare up.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.