fan the flames
fan the flames verb: to intensify or worsen an already difficult situation.
Verb
fan the flames (third-person singular simple present fans the flames, present participle fanning the flames, simple past and past participle fanned the flames)
- To intensify or worsen an already difficult situation.
- In simple terms, both superpowers poured gasoline on the fire and fanned the flames, hoping that out of the ashes would arise a region committed either to democracy or to Soviet-style communism.2002, Scott Hunt, The Future of Peace: On the Front Lines with the World's Great Peacemakers, HarperCollins, published 2004, →ISBN, page 207
- Far from putting a distance between them, his absence was only fanning the flames of her affection.2007, Barbara Cartland, A Dream Come True, M-Y Books Distribution, published 2007, →ISBN
Synonyms of fan the flames
Forms of fan the flames
| third-person singular present | fans the flames |
|---|---|
| present participle | fanning the flames |
| past participle | fanned the flames |
| past | fanned the flames |
Questions about fan the flames
- What does fan the flames mean?
- Fan the flames means to intensify or worsen an already difficult situation.
- What part of speech is fan the flames?
- Fan the flames is a verb.
- What is the past tense of fan the flames?
- The past tense of fan the flames is fanned the flames.
Words near fan the flames in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: fan the flames (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-fan the flames.ogg.
Cite this entry: “fan the flames.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fan_the_flames. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.