inflame

UK/ɪnˈfleɪm/US/ɪnˈfleɪm/

verbB2+Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #12,322 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: inflamed, inflaming, inflames

To inflame is to make a feeling or a wound worse. Inflame tensions, an inflamed joint, inflame public opinion.

The medical sense is technical and the political one is a warning: language that inflames a situation makes violence likelier, which is why the word appears in every inquiry into a riot. Both come from the same image of setting something alight.

Definitions of inflame

1verbinflameTo make a feeling or a wound worse.B2+
“His angry speech only inflamed the crowd further.”

inflame is a worsening.

Where it comes from

Latin inflammare means to set on fire — in plus flamma, a flame.

Proto-Indo-European
*bʰel-
Middle English
enflaumen
English, today
inflame

Built from

enflaumen · Middle English — to set (something) on fire; to be on fire; (figurative) to enrage (someone); to become enraged; to incite (someone) to do evil; to inspire (someone); (medicine) to cause inflammation of (a body part)
enflammer · Old French — to set (something) on fire, inflame; to be on fire; (figurative) to fuel (a debate, hatred, etc.)
inflammō · Latin — to set (something) on fire, inflame; (figurative) to excite (someone)
flammō · Latin — to set (something) on fire; to be on fire; (figurative) to incite (someone)

From Middle English enflaumen. From Middle English inflammen, enflamen, enflaumen (“to set (something) on fire; to be on fire; (figurative) to enrage (someone); to become enraged; to incite (someone) to do evil; to inspire (someone); (medicine) to cause inflammation of (a body part)”), from Old French enflamer, enflammer (“to set (something) on fire, inflame; to be on fire; (figurative) to fuel (a debate, hatred, etc.)”) (modern French enflammer), from Latin inflammāre, the of inflammō (“to set (something) on fire, inflame; (figurative) to excite (someone)”), from in- + flammō (“to set (something) on fire; to be on fire; (figurative) to incite (someone)”) (from flamma (“flame, fire; (figurative) passion”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European bʰel- (“to blaze, burn; to glow, shine; bright flame, fire”)) + -ō). by surface analysis, in- + flame.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

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