variants
or smoulders
1
as in snarls
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.
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2
as in blazes
to be on fire usually with smoke but few flames
They look forward to those long summer nights telling stories beside a smoldering campfire.
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of smolders
Throughout the compilation of clips, Kristy smiles and smolders in the mirror while using a bottle of the luxury brand's Libre Berry Crush perfume.
—
Zoey Lyttle, PEOPLE, 27 Jan. 2026
Blood orange and saffron ignite the air, myrrh smolders beneath, and the woods hum with market heat.
—Adam Hurly, Robb Report, 16 Oct. 2025
Zoey Lyttle, PEOPLE, 27 Jan. 2026
Blood orange and saffron ignite the air, myrrh smolders beneath, and the woods hum with market heat.
—Adam Hurly, Robb Report, 16 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for smolders
Verb
-
The council in 2024 rejected a 498-unit apartment complex nearby in Deer Canyon over similar concerns related to evacuations and the area’s proneness to blazes.—
Victoria Le,
Oc Register,
14 Jan. 2026
-
In another, a knockout image featuring two children resting on their backs, sunlight blazes with an almost divisive intent, turning one child’s eyeglasses opaque with its glare while leaving his friend’s face in shadow.—
Dawn Chan,
New Yorker,
6 Dec. 2025
Verb
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Nothing steams football fans quite like NBC Sports broadcaster Cris Collinsworth praising Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.—
Pete Grathoff,
Kansas City Star,
6 Feb. 2026
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Then, Lim steams the breastmilk in an espresso machine before adding the matcha into the drink.—
Hannah Sacks,
PEOPLE,
15 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Production is entirely dependent on electricity and the generator burns about 700 hryvnias ($16) worth of fuel per hour.—
Kamila Hrabchuk,
Fortune,
8 Feb. 2026
-
The sky has deepened to a clear blue, though the famously slow sunset still burns orange on the horizon.—
Rick Jordan,
Travel + Leisure,
8 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
What angers me is thinking about what could have been.—
Caroline Blair,
PEOPLE,
12 Dec. 2025
-
And nothing angers the Survivor gods more than reality TV hubris.—
Dalton Ross,
Entertainment Weekly,
2 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Trump seethes with hatred and erupts in volcanic fury to denounce, demonize, disparage and threaten anyone who refuses to support his increasingly irrational and harmful proposals and actions.—
Washington Post,
Washington Post,
2 Feb. 2026
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The river tumbles and seethes through 278 miles of Grand Canyon National Park, taking its geologic time in carving a trench now deeper than a mile.—
Brandon Loomis,
AZCentral.com,
15 Dec. 2025
Verb
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Each packs several pieces of shrimp in a thick, chewy wheat-starch wrapper that glows almost silvery under the light.—
Jenn Harris,
Los Angeles Times,
4 Feb. 2026
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The bill was able to move forward after Castillo agreed to a carve-out for GloFish, a type of fish that glows due to the insertion of Green Flourescent Protein (GFP) into its DNA.—
Kate Wolffe,
Sacbee.com,
4 Feb. 2026
Verb
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When the home team loses, the cold snaps extra hard.—
Miguel Otárola,
Denver Post,
8 Feb. 2026
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Coca-Cola takes that engraving process a step further with a machine that snaps a photo of the user, then embosses that picture onto the iconic red can of soda.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
6 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Curiosity flickers across his face when his submissive surprises him.—
Amy Nicholson,
Los Angeles Times,
5 Feb. 2026
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As the camera pans out, the screen flickers, and House appears for a second.—
Barry Levitt,
Time,
4 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Smolders.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/smolders. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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