Flare Meaning
/flɛə̯/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA sudden bright light.
nounA source of brightly burning light or intense heat.
Sentence Examples
The friction that occurs during the violent vaporization process generates the flare.
Leon lit a flare.
You must be careful not to make his anger flare up.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The old engine sputtered once more, then suddenly began to ____ up with bright sparks.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
In an emergency, you can use a bright red ____ to signal your location to rescue teams.
Word Origin & History
Origin unknown, first recorded in the mid 16th century, probably related to Latin flagrō (“to burn”). Norwegian flara (“to blaze; to flaunt in gaudy attire”) has a similar meaning, but the English word predates it. Possibly related to Middle High German vlederen (“to flutter”), represented by modern German flattern. The noun is derived from the verb.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"I was looking in the direction of the lightship off and on from the time we first sighted her. I could not be mistaken in such a matter as a flare-up light. By a flare-up light I mean a large bright light waved in the air, something like a torch dipped in resin and waved about. I am prepared to say that any person who has sworn that she shewed a flare-up light from the lightship while the Kanagawa Maru was passing has perjured himself."
— 1876 January 28, “Japanese Consulate General, Shanghai. Before E. Shinagawa, Esq., Consul-General. Jan. 22, 1876. Capt. Roper v. Mitsu Bishi Mail S.S. Co.”, in The Japan Mail. A Fortnightly Summary of Intelligence from Japan, […], volume VII, number 9, Yokohama: Printed and published for the proprietor by H. Collins, […
"[T]he forward deck near the house was all saturated with spilt oil and there was a quantity of oakum lying about, some of which possibly had been used for flares or distress signals."
— 1913 December 13, “The Inquest Resumed. [Captain Froggatt’s Report.]”, in The North-China Herald and Supreme Court & Consular Gazette: The Weekly Edition of the North-China Daily News, volume CIX (New Series), number 2418, Shanghai: Printed and published for the proprietors, The North-China Daily News & Herald, Ltd., […], →OCLC, page 807, column 2:
"In the little fair created by the costers' barrows the evening only seemed beginning; and the naphtha flares made one's eyes ache, the men's voices grated harshly, and the girls' faces saddened one."
— 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, pages 87–88:
"We made a movie picture by the use of flares, the brilliant light startling the blacks, but their surprise quickly gave way to enthusiasm,—just another of the white bwana's magic powers."
— 1926, Edwin S. George, “African Nights”, in Cairo to Cape: Four Afoot through Africa, New York, N.Y.: The Knickerbocker Press, →OCLC, page 195:
"The white light during M dwarf flares has long been known to exhibit the broadband shape of a T ≈ 10 000 K blackbody, and the white light in solar-flares is thought to arise primarily from hydrogen recombination. Yet, a current lack of broad-wavelength coverage solar flare spectra in the optical/near-UV region prohibits a direct comparison of the continuum properties to determine if they are indeed so different. New spectroscopic observations of a secondary flare during the decay of a megaflare on the dM4.5e star YZ CMi have revealed multiple components in the white-light continuum of stellar flares, including both a blackbody-like spectrum and a hydrogen-recombination spectrum."
— 2012 March, A. F. Kowalski, S. L. Hawley, J. A. Holtzmann, J. P. Wisniewski, E. J. Hilton, “The Multiple Continuum Components in the White-light Flare of 16 January 2009 on the dM4.5e Star YZ CMi”, in Solar Physics, volume 277, number 1, →DOI, page 21; republished in Yuhong Fan and George Fisher, editors, Solar Flare Magnetic Fields and Plasmas, New York, N.Y.; Dordrecht: Springer, 2012, →ISBN, abstract, page 21:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The old engine sputtered once more, then suddenly began to ____ up with bright sparks.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
In an emergency, you can use a bright red ____ to signal your location to rescue teams.