wildfire

CEFRB2

/ˈwaɪldˌfaɪɚ/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

Examples

Malicious gossip spreads like wildfire. I guess that's why they say bad news travels fast.
The video spread like wildfire over the Internet.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Deep Dive

Extra meanings

In context

The news spread like wildfire.
“It was my own personal watch and I wanted to change the face,” she said in an interview during a recent business trip to New York. “I started wearing it, and it was wildfire — everybody wanted one.”

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

The word in print, with each source given in full.

“It was my own personal watch and I wanted to change the face,” she said in an interview during a recent business trip to New York. “I started wearing it, and it was wildfire — everybody wanted one.”
2022 December 9, Rachel Felder, “These Timex Dials Were Designed With a Jeweler’s Eye”, in The New York Times
So, it appears a revolution has happened and a very unexpected one. Of course it was only a matter of time before it happened. With WiFi connectivity spreading faster than wildfire and a laptop or tablet in one’s bag, what’s the point of a mobile nowadays?
2015 January 18, Monty Munford, “What’s the point of carrying a mobile phone nowadays?”, in The Daily Telegraph

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Inherited from Middle English wilde fyr, wilde fire, wylde fyre, from Old English wilde fȳr. By surface analysis, wild + fire.