variants
or smoulders
1
as in snarls
to be excited or emotionally stirred up with anger
She smoldered when first learning of her son's misbehavior at school, but had calmed down by the time he arrived home.
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2
as in blazes
to be on fire usually with smoke but few flames
They look forward to those long summer nights telling stories beside a smoldering campfire.
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Recent Examples of smolders
Blood orange and saffron ignite the air, myrrh smolders beneath, and the woods hum with market heat.
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Adam Hurly, Robb Report, 16 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for smolders
Verb
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In another, a knockout image featuring two children resting on their backs, sunlight blazes with an almost divisive intent, turning one child’s eyeglasses opaque with its glare while leaving his friend’s face in shadow.—
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Areas damaged by the devastating wildfires back in January have put fire-scarred hillsides from Eaton and Palisades blazes at risk of flooding and landslides.—
Verb
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Humidity often corrodes cables and steams camera lenses.—
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The clip then smash-cuts to a scene of Bruce as a child listening to his parents fight in the next room, and we’re meant to understand that the joy and power that steams off of the stage is a cure for the pain of childhood wounds.—
Verb
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Your light burns so bright in all our hearts!—
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Your light burns so bright in all our hearts!—
Verb
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What angers me is thinking about what could have been.—
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And nothing angers the Survivor gods more than reality TV hubris.—
Verb
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The river tumbles and seethes through 278 miles of Grand Canyon National Park, taking its geologic time in carving a trench now deeper than a mile.—
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This is why Dijon’s language works best as sound, not narrative—his rangy, raspy voice seethes and triumphs, mocks and threatens; there’s no world in which his polygonal perspective can be discerned from a lyric sheet.—
Verb
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Monet’s Palazzo Ducale centers on the Venetian landmark rendered in diffused brushstrokes, with a dial that glows orange under UV light — a nod to the interplay of light and reflection in Monet’s work.—
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The colors are made with neon gas, which glows when electricity runs through it.—
Verb
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Then, just one day later, Kate Hudson shared some Instagram snaps, and there was another Fair Isle sweater on our feeds.—
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Meanwhile, all 52 of Eagles pass rusher Jaelan Phillips’ snaps — the 49ers considered trading for Phillips at midseason — came on the left side of the defense, which meant he was mostly matched against McKivitz.—
Verb
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Those flickers or flashes were used to show intrusive thoughts or moments of wonder.—
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Private sector confidence flickers but has not fully ignited.—
Cite this Entry
“Smolders.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/smolders. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
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