wildfire

wildfire — noun

1. a large, fast-moving fire that destroys natural areas such as forests, grassland

1.nounB1
Definition

a large, fast-moving fire that destroys natural areas such as forests, grasslands, or bushes and is very hard to stop

Example

The wildfire spread across the dry hills and forced hundreds of families to leave.

collocation: spread across [area]

Firefighters worked through the night to stop the wildfire from reaching nearby towns.

collocation: stop / contain a wildfire

Common collocations
  • spread like wildfire
  • wildfire rages
  • wildfire season
  • fight a wildfire
  • contain a wildfire
  • wildfire smoke
  • wildfire risk
  • wildfire destroys
Synonyms
  • forest fire

    specifically refers to wildfires that burn in wooded or forested areas

  • bushfire

    used mainly in Australia and parts of Africa for wildfires that burn through bushland or scrub

  • inferno

    a more dramatic word that emphasises the extreme heat and destruction of a large fire

Grammar Patterns

a wildfire + verb (spreads, burns, destroys)

wildfire + verb (rages, threatens [area])

stop / fight / contain a wildfire

Usage Note

Frequently appears in news reports about natural disasters. The noun is typically singular — even when describing a large fire event, writers use 'a wildfire' or 'the wildfire' rather than 'wildfires' as a generic reference.

Common Mistakes

There was a wildfire in the kitchen.
There was a small kitchen fire.
The word 'wildfire' refers only to fires in outdoor natural areas, not fires inside buildings.
Idioms

spread like wildfire

idiom

if news, information, a rumour, or a feeling spreads like wildfire, it becomes known to many people in a very short time

News of the company's bankruptcy spread like wildfire through the small town.

Rumors about the wedding started to spread like wildfire on social media.