flare
/flɛɚ̯/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.64 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Example Sentences
- "solar flare"
- "I was looking in the direction of the lightship off and on from the time we first sighted her. I could not be mistaken in such a matter as a flare-up light. By a flare-up light I mean a large bright light waved in the air, something like a torch dipped in resin and waved about. I am prepared to say that any person who has sworn that she shewed a flare-up light from the lightship while the Kanagawa Maru was passing has perjured himself."
- "[T]he forward deck near the house was all saturated with spilt oil and there was a quantity of oakum lying about, some of which possibly had been used for flares or distress signals."
- "In the little fair created by the costers' barrows the evening only seemed beginning; and the naphtha flares made one's eyes ache, the men's voices grated harshly, and the girls' faces saddened one."
- "We made a movie picture by the use of flares, the brilliant light startling the blacks, but their surprise quickly gave way to enthusiasm,—just another of the white bwana's magic powers."
- "The white light during M dwarf flares has long been known to exhibit the broadband shape of a T ≈ 10 000 K blackbody, and the white light in solar-flares is thought to arise primarily from hydrogen recombination. Yet, a current lack of broad-wavelength coverage solar flare spectra in the optical/near-UV region prohibits a direct comparison of the continuum properties to determine if they are indeed so different. New spectroscopic observations of a secondary flare during the decay of a megaflare on the dM4.5e star YZ CMi have revealed multiple components in the white-light continuum of stellar flares, including both a blackbody-like spectrum and a hydrogen-recombination spectrum."
Etymology
Origin uncertain, first recorded in the mid 16th century, probably related to Latin flagrō (“to burn”). Norwegian flara (“to blaze; to flaunt in gaudy attire”) has a similar meaning, but the English word predates it. Possibly related to Middle High German vlederen (“to flutter”), represented by modern German flattern. The noun is derived from the verb.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /flɛɚ̯/
- British English: /flɛə̯/