SMOLDER Synonyms: 103 Similar and Opposite Words

smolder

verb

variants or smoulder

as in to anger

to be excited or emotionally stirred up with anger She smoldered when first learning of her son's misbehavior at school, but had calmed down by the time he arrived home.

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

as in to blaze

to be on fire usually with smoke but few flames They look forward to those long summer nights telling stories beside a smoldering campfire.

Related Words

Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of smolder This anger crackles around him like a smoldering fire, igniting and engulfing everyone from the workers on his farm, his meek sister Férula (Fernanda Castillo), to Clara and, eventually, to their daughter, Blanca (Sara Becker and later Fernanda Urrejola), Alba’s idealistic mother. —

Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 29 Apr. 2026 In Debbie Allen’s production, the magnetic Joshua Boone is the smoldering coal that will eventually bring that heat. —

Sara Holdren, Vulture, 26 Apr. 2026 One told a boss about red hot coals and smoldering ash. —

Alene Tchekmedyian, Los Angeles Times, 23 Apr. 2026 These handsome galoots may cheat on their spouses or worse, but this allows the women to smolder in drifting chiffon. —

Libby Gelman-Waxner, New Yorker, 21 Apr. 2026 See All Example Sentences for smolder

Recent Examples of Synonyms for smolder

Verb

Set in 1986, the story follows two brothers, Irwin and Gary Pearl, whose get-rich scheme to help clean up the Gowanus Canal ends in disaster after Irwin (Teller), a nebbish family man, angers Russian mobsters by unwittingly witnessing their criminal activity.

— Brent Lang, Variety, 16 May 2026
The delay angered rural Republicans, who wanted to see the farm bill passed.

— Hailey Bullis, The Washington Examiner, 13 May 2026