Word.ws English Dictionary

fans the flames

fans the flames is the third-person singular simple present indicative of fan the flames.

Meaning of fan the flames

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)

  1. (idiomatic) 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

Questions about fans the flames

What is fans the flames the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Fans the flames is the third-person singular simple present indicative of fan the flames.

Words near fans the flames in the dictionary

  1. fans
  2. fans are slans
  3. fans out
  4. fans the fire
  5. fans the flame
  6. fans the flames
  7. fanservice
  8. fanservicey
  9. fanservicy
  10. Fanshaw
  11. Fanshawe

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: fans the flames (page history and authors); 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.

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