conflagrate

1. 1.

   cause to start burning

   “The setting sun kindled the sky with oranges and reds”

   Synonymskindleenkindleinflame

   Broaderignite

   Narrowerrekindle
2. 2.

   start to burn or burst into flames

   “Marsh gases ignited suddenly”

   “The oily rags combusted spontaneously”

   Synonymseruptignitecatch firetake firecombust

   Broaderchange state

   Narrowerblow outcatchlight up

Other forms of conflagrate

past tense

conflagrated·

present participle

conflagrating·

third person

conflagrates·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about conflagrate

What does conflagrate mean?

conflagrate means "cause to start burning". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in conflagrate?

conflagrate has 3 syllables: con-fla-grate. The stress falls on "con".

What is another word for conflagrate?

Close synonyms include kindle, enkindle, inflame, erupt, ignite. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is conflagrate a common word?

conflagrate is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.