blaze

blaze — verb

1. (of a fire) to send out tall, fierce flames and a lot of light and heat.

1.verbintransitiveB2
Definition

(of a fire) to send out tall, fierce flames and a lot of light and heat.

Example

The campfire blazed under the stars while the children roasted marshmallows.

subject is fire/flame source

By midnight the old wooden barn was blazing on every side.

progressive: be blazing

Common collocations
  • blaze fiercely
  • blaze away
  • blaze up
  • fire blazes
Synonyms
  • burn

    neutral; 'blaze' adds the idea of large, bright flames

  • flame

    literary; emphasises individual flames rather than overall heat

  • rage

    used of out-of-control fires, often destructive

Antonyms
  • smoulder

    burn slowly without flame — opposite of blazing

Grammar Patterns

blaze (away)

the fire/sun blazes

Usage Note

Subject is almost always fire itself or something that is on fire (a building, a forest, a candle). For an angry-eyes meaning use sense 2.

Common Mistakes

I blazed the wood last night.
The wood blazed in the fireplace last night.
'blaze' is intransitive in this sense; you cannot blaze something.

2. to give off very strong light or colour, or (of someone's eyes or face) to show

2.verbintransitiveC1
Definition

to give off very strong light or colour, or (of someone's eyes or face) to show fierce anger or excitement.

Example

The garden blazed with red and yellow tulips on Sunday morning.

blaze with + colour/light noun

Yara's eyes blazed when she heard the news about her stolen bike.

of eyes: signals anger or strong emotion

Common collocations
  • eyes blaze
  • blaze with colour
  • blaze down
  • sun blazes
Synonyms
  • shine

    much weaker; 'blaze' is intense and often hot or fierce

  • glow

    softer, steady light; 'blaze' is strong and dramatic

  • flash

    sudden and brief; 'blaze' suggests sustained brightness

Antonyms
  • dim

    lose brightness — opposite of blazing

Grammar Patterns

something blazes with something

Usage Note

Subject is light, colour, eyes, or something brightly lit; never a person directly. 'Blaze with anger' uses 'eyes' or 'face' as subject, not the person.

Common Mistakes

Mira blazed with anger at the meeting.
Mira's eyes blazed with anger at the meeting.
the subject must be eyes, face, or look, not the person.

3. (of a gun, or of a person holding one) to shoot many bullets one after another w

3.verbintransitiveC1
Definition

(of a gun, or of a person holding one) to shoot many bullets one after another without stopping.

Example

Machine guns blazed from the rooftop until the police arrived.

subject is the weapon

The two officers blazed away at the metal targets on the practice range.

blaze away at something

Common collocations
  • blaze away
  • guns blazing
  • blaze at
Synonyms
  • fire

    neutral; 'blaze' adds rapid, continuous shooting

  • shoot

    general; 'blaze away' suggests prolonged spraying of bullets

Antonyms
  • hold fire

    stop shooting — opposite of blazing away

Grammar Patterns

blaze away (at someone/something)

guns blazing

Usage Note

Almost always with 'away' or in the fixed phrase 'with (all) guns blazing' (literal or figurative: doing something forcefully and aggressively).

Common Mistakes

The hunter blazed a deer.
The hunter blazed away at the deer.
this verb does not take a direct object; use 'at' before the target.

4. to put news or a story in front of the public so loudly that everyone notices, e

4.verbtransitiveC2
Definition

to put news or a story in front of the public so loudly that everyone notices, especially in newspaper headlines or on signs.

Example

Her resignation was blazed across every front page on Monday morning.

passive: be blazed across something

The tabloids blazed Mayor Chen's bribery photos across their front pages for a fortnight.

active: subject + blazed + object + across

Common collocations
  • blazed across the headlines
  • blazed all over the press
Synonyms
  • splash

    informal news-business term; 'blaze' is more dramatic and visual

  • trumpet

    announce loudly and proudly; less visual than 'blaze'

  • broadcast

    neutral and general; lacks the headline-on-paper feel of 'blaze'

Antonyms
  • hush up

    deliberately keep news quiet — opposite of blazing it

Grammar Patterns

blaze something across/all over something

Usage Note

Almost always in the passive (be blazed across/over/on). Subject of the active form is rarely seen in modern writing.

Common Mistakes

The newspaper blazed her name yesterday.
Her name was blazed across the newspapers yesterday.
this sense strongly prefers the passive with 'across' or 'all over'.
Phrasal verbs

blaze up

phrasal verb

To suddenly start burning very strongly or brightly.

The dry leaves blazed up when Diego dropped a match.

Why did the campfire blaze up so quickly last night?

Idioms

blaze a trail

idiom

to be the first person to do something new and important, opening the way for others who come later.

Marie Curie blazed a trail for women in chemistry and physics.

The small clinic blazed a trail in offering free dental care to children.

(with) all/both guns blazing

idiom

Doing something with great energy and strong determination.

Maya started her new job with all guns blazing.

Did the team come out with both guns blazing in the final match?

blaze — noun

Word family

  • blazing
    adjectiveB2
  • blazingly
    adverbC2
  • blazer
    nounB1

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words name something that is burning, but they sit on a clear scale of size and register. 'Fire' is the everyday neutral term and works for anything from a candle to a forest — it carries no judgement about size or danger. 'Blaze' steps up the scale: it suggests tall flames, strong heat, and is the favourite word of news reporters when a fire destroys a building. 'Inferno' is hotter and more frightening still, often used when people are trapped or when the scene looks like hell itself. 'Conflagration' is the most formal of the group, used in legal, historical, or literary writing for huge fires that sweep through whole districts. So you might light a small fire at home, fight a blaze at the warehouse, escape an inferno on the upper floors, and read about the great conflagration of 1666.

blaze ↗fire ↗infernoconflagration

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

Prepositions

Etymology

Proto-GermanicOld EnglishMiddle EnglishModern English

The fire-related uses of 'blaze' come from Old English 'blæse', meaning a torch or bright flame, which is related to similar Germanic words for shining and burning. The animal-marking sense and the trail-marking sense come from a separate but related Germanic root meaning 'a white spot' or 'a mark', which is why a horse's facial stripe and a forester's cut on a tree share the same modern spelling. Over time, English speakers blended the two strands, so today 'blaze' covers both the dazzling brightness of a fire and the visible mark left to draw attention.