Word.ws English Dictionary

like a moth to the flame

like a moth to the flame prepositional phrase: inescapably allured by something harmful.

Prepositional phrase

  1. Inescapably allured by something harmful.
    • I came back and back to the same bad relationship, like a moth to the flame.

Forms of like a moth to the flame

alternative formlike a moth to a flame
alternative formlike a moth to flame

Origin of like a moth to the flame

From the behavior of moths, that are instinctively attracted to light and are sometimes observed to go directly into flames, seemingly committing suicide.

Questions about like a moth to the flame

What does like a moth to the flame mean?
Like a moth to the flame means inescapably allured by something harmful.
What part of speech is like a moth to the flame?
Like a moth to the flame is a prepositional phrase.

Words near like a moth to the flame in the dictionary

  1. like a million dollars
  2. like a million pounds
  3. like a monkey on a stick
  4. like a moth to a flame
  5. like a moth to flame
  6. like a moth to the flame
  7. like a mother hawk
  8. like a pakapoo ticket
  9. like a phoenix from the ashes
  10. like a pig in clover
  11. like a plasterer's radio

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: like a moth to the flame (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-like a moth to the flame.ogg.

Cite this entry: “like a moth to the flame.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/like_a_moth_to_the_flame. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.