Smolder

//ˈsmoʊldɚ// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The act of smoldering or something that smolders.

    "And she’s got a great scene partner in Stevens, refining his star power into a just slightly, almost imperceptibly mechanical approximation of Don Juan smolder. He lets us admire the interface and still see the code ticking away underneath it."

  2. 2
    a fire that burns with thick smoke but no flame wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To burn with no flame and little smoke. US, intransitive

    "The remains of the bonfire were left to smolder for hours."

  2. 2
    burn slowly and without a flame wordnet
  3. 3
    To show signs of repressed anger or suppressed mental turmoil or other strong emotion, such as passion. figuratively, intransitive
  4. 4
    have strong suppressed feelings wordnet
  5. 5
    To exist in a suppressed or hidden state. figuratively, intransitive

Synonyms

All synonyms
bakebe angrybe excitablebe in heatbe latentbe livid

Example

More examples

"If you squelch the fire with water, the coals will not smolder."

Etymology

From Middle English smolderen (“to suffocate, stifle”), from Middle English smolder (“smoke, smoky vapour”), ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *smolōn (“to burn, glow, fume, smoulder”). Related to Proto-West Germanic *smallijan (> English smell).

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