Flared

How to spell flared

6 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce flared

What does flared mean?

1. verbBurst into sudden flame, brightness, or intense feeling, or spread gradually outward.
2. adjectiveShaped so as to widen gradually towards one end.

Flared in a sentence

• verb

  Tempers flared when the meeting ran two hours over schedule.

• adjective

  She paired the fitted top with flared jeans from the 1970s.

• verb

  The campfire flared briefly when he threw on a handful of dry pine.

• adjective

  The bridesmaids wore long flared skirts that swept the floor.

Where does flared come from?

Language of origin: Other

Flared is the past form of the verb 'flare', a word whose origins are genuinely murky. It surfaced in English in the mid 1500s, first describing hair or light that spread outward and shone brightly, and the spelling settled on 'flare' fairly early. Scholars suspect a link to Scandinavian relatives such as Norwegian 'flara', meaning to blaze or to flaunt, though the connection has never been proven, so the trail goes cold. Over time the verb gathered two everyday senses: a sudden burst of flame or feeling, and a gradual widening or spreading outward, as with a skirt or a pair of trousers. The added '-ed' simply marks the past tense and the adjective form, and the spelling trap is the silent final 'e' of 'flare', which is dropped before the ending to give 'flared' rather than the wrongly doubled 'flarred'.

How the word is built

• flare (to blaze or spread out)
• -ed (past tense / past participle suffix)