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say it: fler
flare is a noun and verb meaning "a shape that spreads outward". It carries 15 recorded senses.
a sudden burst of flame
a burst of light used to communicate or illuminate
reddening of the skin spreading outward from a focus of infection or irritation
a sudden recurrence or worsening of symptoms
“a colitis flare”
“infection can cause a lupus flare”
a sudden eruption of intense high-energy radiation from the sun's surface; associated with sunspots and radio interference
am unwanted reflection in an optical system (or the fogging of an image that is caused by such a reflection)
a sudden outburst of emotion
“she felt a flare of delight”
“she could not control her flare of rage”
a short forward pass to a back who is running toward the sidelines
“he threw a flare to the fullback who was tackled for a loss”
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.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for flare come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.