Flares

How to spell flares

6 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce flares

What does flares mean?

1. nounBright burning devices used to signal distress or to illuminate an area.
2. verbBurns with a sudden bright light, or bursts out suddenly, or spreads outward.
3. nounTrousers that widen noticeably from the knee down to the ankle.

Flares in a sentence

• noun

  The stranded sailors set off two emergency flares at dusk.

• verb

  The candle flares whenever a draught crosses the room.

• noun

  She wore denim flares that brushed the floor as she walked.

• noun

  The rescue kit in the boat held a torch, a whistle, and several flares.

• verb

  His temper flares the moment anyone questions his work.

• noun

  The seventies costume included a pair of bright corduroy flares.

Where does flares come from?

Language of origin: Unknown

The origin of flare is genuinely uncertain, which is why etymologists treat it with caution. It first appears in English in the middle of the sixteenth century, meaning to spread out or to shine with a sudden unsteady light, and no clear ancestor has ever been pinned down. Some scholars connect it to a group of Scandinavian words such as Norwegian flara, meaning to blaze or to flaunt, which would fit both the idea of bright light and the idea of something spreading or showing off. The two modern senses, a sudden burst of light and a shape that widens outward, both grew naturally from this early double meaning. The plural and verb form simply adds the regular -s ending, and because the word ends in a silent e before that s, writers occasionally tangle it with the unrelated homophone flairs, meaning instinctive talents.

How the word is built

• flare (to blaze, spread out)
• -s (plural noun / third-person verb suffix)