flare

1 of 2

noun

1
: a fire or blaze of light used especially to signal, illuminate, or attract attention
also : a device or composition used to produce such a flare
The airport set flares to guide the landing plane at night.
2
a
: an unsteady glaring light
b
: solar flare
also : a sudden increase and decrease in the brightness of a star often amounting to a difference of several magnitudes (see magnitude sense 3)
3
a
: a sudden outburst (as of excitement or anger)
a flare of tempers in the courtroom
b
: flare-up sense 3
a flare of disease
4
a
: a spreading outward
also : a place or part that spreads
b
: an area of skin flush
a flare of reddened skin
5
: light resulting from reflection (as between lens surfaces) or an effect of this light (such as a fogged or dense area in a photographic negative)
6
a
: a short pass in football thrown to a back who is running toward the sideline
b
: a weakly hit fly ball in baseball
a flare into short right field
7
flares plural : pants that flare toward the bottom

flare

2 of 2

verb

flared; flaring

intransitive verb

1
a
: to burn with an unsteady flame
b
: to stream in the wind
2
a
: to shine with a sudden light
a match flares in the darkness
b(1)
: to become suddenly excited or angry
usually used with up
(2)
: to break out or intensify usually suddenly or violently
often used with up
c
: to express strong emotion (such as anger)
3
: to open or spread outward
the pants flare at the bottom

transitive verb

1
: to display conspicuously
flaring her scarf to attract attention
2
: to cause to flare
the breeze flares the candle
3
: to signal with a flare or by flaring
4
: to burn (a jet of waste gas) in the open air

Examples of flare in a Sentence

Noun the sudden flare of the match When the crew saw flares, they knew the other ship was in trouble. Verb pants that flare at the bottom The bull flared its nostrils.
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Sometimes, shampoos with tar are enough to manage and prevent flares of seborrheic dermatitis symptoms. Amanda Gardner, Health, 4 Mar. 2024 By dewdrops flare beauty in the morning Until an army of squash bugs land And eat, then drag their bellies From the carnage— Field mice chew their way Into the house. Joy Harjo, The New Yorker, 26 Feb. 2024 As our solar system's largest explosive events, flares are seen as bright areas on the sun and can last from minutes to hours. Alex Groth, Journal Sentinel, 23 Feb. 2024 These types of flares can send out a coronal mass ejection – sun material – into space, which can interfere with communication and navigation systems on Earth, along with power grids, depending on the flare's strength. John Tufts, The Courier-Journal, 22 Feb. 2024 During solar maximum, sunspots are prevalent and surface activity, such as flares, are more common than ever. Christian Thorsberg, Smithsonian Magazine, 20 Feb. 2024 Cox said protesters lit colorful flares and drummers created a deafening din outside the hotel as some demonstrators sat on the ground and others rappelled from the roof of the hotel. TIME, 2 Feb. 2024 So his partners made a toboggan out of a tarp and slid him downhill to a flat area where another member of the party had started a bonfire using gasoline and an emergency flare to burn green wood. Brett French, Idaho Statesman, 31 Jan. 2024 There doesn’t have to be emergency signs or flares indicating the car is stuck on the side of the road. Howard Cohen, Miami Herald, 24 Jan. 2024
Verb
Tensions are flaring once more in the South China Sea. Rebecca Wright, CNN, 6 Mar. 2024 Protests have continued sporadically since, flaring up again in early February when President Macky Sall announced that elections would not take place as planned at the end of the month. Ayen Deng Bior, The Christian Science Monitor, 1 Mar. 2024 Boxy lines, fender flares and round headlights all contribute to the aesthetic, as do a split barn-door tailgate, roof rails and knobby tires. Michael Van Runkle, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2024 Tempers are flaring in New Orleans pic.twitter.com/ngqs1HDJGJ — Bally Sports Florida & Bally Sports Sun (@BallySportsFL) February 24, 2024 This story was originally published February 25, 2024, 8:03 PM. Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 26 Feb. 2024 That, still, was better than his winter ball experience the previous year, when he was shut down after five games when his back flared up again. Evan Webeck, The Mercury News, 20 Feb. 2024 The virus sits in throat and blood cells, maybe flaring up as mononucleosis or a bout of lethargy, or with no symptoms at all. Brian Murphy, Washington Post, 15 Feb. 2024 Indeed, even when sectarian tensions have flared elsewhere, the plight of the Palestinians has long provided a common rallying point across the Muslim world. Toby Matthiesen, Foreign Affairs, 9 Feb. 2024 The bodice was a mock neck halter fit while the hem was flared with even more feathering added to it. Kerane Marcellus, Essence, 20 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'flare.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun and Verb

origin unknown

First Known Use

Noun

1580, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

1616, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of flare was in 1580

Dictionary Entries Near flare

Cite this Entry

“Flare.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flare. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

flare

1 of 2 noun
ˈfla(ə)r How to pronounce flare (audio)
ˈfle(ə)r
1
: a fire or blaze of light used to signal, light up something, or attract attention
also : a device or material that produces such a flare
2
: an unsteady glaring light
3
4
: a spreading outward
also : a place or part that spreads
5
plural : bell-bottom trousers

flare

2 of 2 verb
flared; flaring
1
: to burn with an unsteady flame
2
a
: to shine or blaze suddenly
b
: to become suddenly excited or angry
flare up
3
: to open or spread outward
pants that flare at the bottom

Medical Definition

flare

1 of 2 intransitive verb
flared; flaring
: to break out or intensify rapidly : become suddenly worse or more painful
often used with up
your gallstones flare upW. A. Nolen

flare

2 of 2 noun
1
: flare-up
Without effective urate lowering, many such patients progress to severe chronic gout characterized by frequent arthritic flaresJohn S. Sundy et al., The Journal of the American Medical Association
2
: an area of skin flush resulting from and spreading out from a local center of vascular dilation and hyperemia
urticarial flare
3
: a cloudy or smoky appearance of the fluid of the anterior chamber of the eye that is seen when a beam of light (as from a slit lamp) is passed through it and that is caused by the presence of floating protein material in the fluid which is a symptom of inflammation
Flare means that we can actually see the beam of light from the slit lamp traveling through the aqueous humor. This is similar to being able to see the beam of light coming from a movie projector in a dusty room.Jay B. Lavine, The Eye Care Sourcebook

called also aqueous flare

More from Merriam-Webster on flare

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