1,400 new words in our dictionary! — Parasocial, glow-up, promposal & more
1,400 new words in our dictionary! — More

flares (up)

verb

present tense third-person singular of flare (up)
1
as in angers
to become very angry naturally I flared up when he insulted me

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in erupts
to develop suddenly and violently my allergies always flare up in the spring

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for flares (up)
  1. angers
  2. erupts
  3. snarls
  4. explodes
  5. snaps
  6. breaks out
  7. glares
  8. blows up
Verb
  • The receptionist angers Kripke and Bert so much that they are picked up by the police — along with Stuart, who had also been arrested.
    — Michael Schneider, Variety, 31 July 2026
  • According to the myth, Agamemnon angers the goddess Artemis by killing one of her sacred deer.
    — Britt Hayes, Entertainment Weekly, 20 July 2026
Definition of angers
Verb
  • During surveillance, Joe recognizes one of the men involved in her abduction, setting off an operation that erupts into a deadly restaurant shootout.
    — Deirdre Durkan, PEOPLE, 20 Sep. 2026
  • More news Another battery fire erupts at Moss Landing in Northern California, where some units are still charged.
    — Andrew J. Campa, Los Angeles Times, 19 Sep. 2026
Definition of erupts
Verb
  • Day to day, as the city grows, there’s also the question of traffic, which snarls the city as public transit initiatives have repeatedly struggled.
    — Jacqui Palumbo, CNN Money, 21 July 2026
  • Security snarls The TSA PreCheck line at terminal B in LaGuardia Airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City, on March 27, 2026.
    — Leslie Josephs, CNBC, 28 Mar. 2026
Definition of snarls
Verb
  • Once the mook is within blasting range, Reacher explodes the tank with a bullet — making both the man and the floor as holey as Swiss cheese.
    — Bethy Squires, Vulture, 18 Sep. 2026
  • Control Resonant, the sequel, takes most of that game’s gorgeous visual language and explodes it all over an open-world New York City, to mesmerizing results.
    — Jordan Minor, PC Magazine, 18 Sep. 2026
Definition of explodes
Verb
  • Her head snaps forward into the bowl — only to be stopped by her ponytail tied to a railing behind her.
    — Sandee LaMotte, CNN Money, 22 Sep. 2026
  • In the Instagram snaps, Kardashian, 45, is pictured with friends and family in the 1990s and 2000s, sporting a variety of looks that were trending at the time.
    — Madison E. Goldberg, PEOPLE, 18 Sep. 2026
Definition of snaps
Verb
  • The stats Vasily Podkolzin breaks out with 30 goals and 22 assists.
    — Janson Duench, New York Times, 15 Sep. 2026
  • In general, when a trade war breaks out, the smaller economy has more to lose compared to the larger one, said Ari Van Assche, a professor of international business at HEC Montréal who specializes in international trade.
    — Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN Money, 8 Sep. 2026
Definition of breaks out
Verb
  • My eleven-year-old self rolls her eyes, glares at my thirty-six-year-old body, and silently calls me fat.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 10 Nov. 2025
Definition of glares
Verb
  • The movie blows up, and so are do lives—in exciting, but also terrifying, ways.
    — Katie Wiseman, IndyStar, 21 Sep. 2026
  • John gets the upper hand and nearly takes the ring, before one of Zoe’s satellite weapons blows up half the motel, forcing Hal to use what little charge is left in the ring to protect himself and John.
    — Joe Otterson, Variety, 14 Sep. 2026
Definition of blows up
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

flares (out)
flares (up)
flare (up)
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Flares (up).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/flares%20%28up%29. Accessed 30 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of epistemic

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Why do we 'bury the lede?'
See More

Popular

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
image of the words cracker fly and sale arranged in a triangle with the word fire in the middle
Triple Play Quiz Find the word that pairs with each of the three g...
See All