smouldering
smouldering adjective: burning slowly, producing smoke but no flame. Also the present participle and gerund of smoulder.
Adjective
smouldering
- Burning slowly, producing smoke but no flame.
- And if we meet again, some evil chance / Will make the smouldering scandal break and blaze / Before the people, and our lord the King.1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Guinevere”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, pages 229–230
- The burnt and bleeding man staggered to his feet, dazed and unbelieving, and asked the startled townspeople who came running whether his fireman and guard were safe. He was kept away from the smouldering crater where his engine had been, and taken to hospital.2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in Rail, number 948, page 43
Noun
smouldering (plural smoulderings)
- The act by which something smoulders; residual heat.
- the smoulderings of the Thirty Years War
Also used as
smouldering is also the present participle and gerund of smoulder.
Forms of smouldering
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| alternative form | smoldering |
| Noun | |
| plural | smoulderings |
Origin of smouldering
From smoulder + -ing.
Words formed from smouldering
Questions about smouldering
- What does smouldering mean?
- Smouldering means burning slowly, producing smoke but no flame.
- What part of speech is smouldering?
- Smouldering can be an adjective or a noun.
Words near smouldering in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: smouldering (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:
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