conflagration
/ˌkɒnfləˈɡreɪʃn/ (bre, ipa) · /ˌkɑːnfləˈɡreɪʃn/ (ame, ipa) · /ˌkän-flə-ˈgrā-shən/ (ame, mw)
conflagration — noun
- conflagrationsingular
- conflagrationsplural
1. an extensive, fast-moving fire that destroys buildings, forests, or wide areas o
an extensive, fast-moving fire that destroys buildings, forests, or wide areas of land, usually requiring many firefighters to bring under control.
The summer drought turned a single spark into a conflagration that swept through five villages.
noun head of result clause: 'turned X into a conflagration'
Firefighters from three states battled the warehouse conflagration for nearly two days.
modifier + head: '[location] conflagration'
Nellie watched in horror as the conflagration consumed her family's wooden barn.
A conflagration broke out in the old paper mill shortly after midnight on Tuesday.
Strong winds spread the conflagration across the dry hillsides outside Lisbon.
用法筆記
Strongly formal; common in news reports and historical writing. Everyday speech uses 'fire', 'blaze', or 'wildfire' instead.
常見錯誤
2. a large, destructive outbreak of fighting or war that draws in many people or co
a large, destructive outbreak of fighting or war that draws in many people or countries — used as a vivid metaphor extending the image of a spreading fire.
Historians warned that the border dispute could ignite a wider regional conflagration.
verb collocation: 'ignite a conflagration' (war metaphor)
By 1914, a single assassination in Sarajevo had grown into a continent-wide conflagration.
Diplomats worked through the night to stop the strikes from sparking a global conflagration.
Karim's grandfather often spoke of the conflagration that had torn apart his childhood village in 1948.
用法筆記
Almost always metaphorical and rhetorical; appears in editorials and history books rather than ordinary speech. Distinguish from sense 1 by the absence of literal flames and the presence of war/violence vocabulary nearby.