slow-burning
slow-burning — 形容詞
1. describes something that builds up, develops, or changes little by little over a
漸進；慢燃
形容事物長期緩慢變化或火焰微弱持久燃燒
describes something that builds up, develops, or changes little by little over a long span of time, rather than happening all at once — for example, a feeling that grows inside someone slowly, a crisis that gets worse over many months, a story whose tension increases page by page, or a fire that keeps burning with a small flame for hours.
The slow-burning fire in the fireplace kept the cabin warm all through the freezing night.
壁爐裡的慢燃火焰讓小屋在寒冷的夜晚中始終保持溫暖。
literal: slow-burning fire (attributive)
A slow-burning anger grew inside Yuna as she listened to the unfair accusations at work.
Yuna 聽著工作中那些不實的指控，一股緩慢升起的憤怒在她心中蔓延。
figurative: slow-burning + emotion noun (anger)
The land dispute between the two villages became a slow-burning conflict that lasted for generations.
兩個村子之間的土地糾紛演變成一場逐漸醞釀的衝突，持續了好幾代。
Kabir and Diya shared a slow-burning romance that grew deeper with every passing season.
Kabir 和 Diya 之間的戀情緩慢發展，隨著每個季節的更迭而更加深厚。
This novel's plot is slow-burning, with tension building gradually toward the final chapter.
這部小說的情節屬於 slow-burning 類型，張力逐漸累積到最後一章。
- gradual
more general and neutral; slow-burning adds a sense of hidden intensity building beneath the surface
- simmering
stronger emotional charge, often suggests something is about to boil over; simmering anger feels closer to explosion than slow-burning anger
- lingering
focuses on lasting a long time rather than developing gradually; a lingering pain stays, a slow-burning pain grows
- sudden
happening without warning or over a very short time
- instantaneous
happening in an instant, with no buildup
文法句型
slow-burning + noun
be slow-burning
用法筆記
Most common in attributive position (before a noun). The figurative use — describing emotions such as anger or resentment, situations such as a conflict or crisis, or pacing in stories — is far more frequent in modern English than the literal use for fire. A slow-burning feeling is different from one that is merely 'strong': it grows over time, often from something small.