Smolder

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ˈsmoʊldɚ/

Definitions

1. To burn slowly with smoke but no visible flame ; to exhibit restrained or hidden anger or strong feelings beneath the surface
2. To undergo a slow combustion process that produces smoke but not flames ; to manifest feelings or anger in a silent, controlled way
3. Describes a fire that produces smoke without flames ; characterized by an intense but quiet display of passion or anger held back from open expression

Etymology: The verb "smolder" began life as a word for suffocation rather than fire. Middle English "smolderen" meant "to suffocate, stifle," and it grew out of an older noun, "smolder," meaning smoke or smoky vapour. Behind that noun lies a reconstructed Proto-West Germanic root, ""smolōn," meaning to burn, glow, or fume. So the original picture was of smoke hanging thick in a closed space, choking whoever breathed it, before the sense shifted to the slow, flameless burning that produces that smoke. The word's family includes "smell," which has a related Proto-West Germanic ancestor, ""smallijan." Both words grew from a shared sense of something that rises as smoke or vapour and reaches the nose, which helps explain why an idea of smoke and odour sits so close to the older sense of stifling. Smoldering fires, after all, are exactly the kind that fill a room with fumes long before anyone sees a flame.

Synonyms: smoke, fume, burn, glow, smoke slowly

Antonyms: ignite, flame, blaze, flare, burst