ablaze

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /əˈbleɪz/ UK /əˈbleɪz/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
burning fiercely or brightly lit up

The autumn hills were ablaze with crimson and gold.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · burning fiercely or... aflame burning afire blazing alight fiery aglow

Opposites

extinguisheddark dimunlitcold

Word family

Related forms blaze blazing

Etymology

From Middle English, from a- ('on, in a state of') + blaze, from Old English blæse ('torch, flame'), from Proto-Germanic *blasǭ ('torch'), related to *blas- ('shining, white').

blæse Old English *blasǭ Proto-Germanic *bʰel- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# ablaze

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /əˈbleɪz/
**IPA (UK):** /əˈbleɪz/

## Meanings
1. burning fiercely or brightly lit up

## Examples
- The autumn hills were ablaze with crimson and gold.

## Synonyms
- aflame
- burning
- afire
- blazing
- alight
- fiery
- aglow

## Antonyms
- extinguished
- dark
- dim
- unlit
- cold

## Related Forms
- blaze
- blazing

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: blæse
- Root: *blasǭ
- Root: *bʰel-

## Etymology
From Middle English, from a- ('on, in a state of') + blaze, from Old English blæse ('torch, flame'), from Proto-Germanic *blasǭ ('torch'), related to *blas- ('shining, white').

## AI Etymology
ablaze comes from Middle English, from a- ('on, in a state of') + blaze, from Old English blæse ('torch, flame'), from Proto-Germanic *blasǭ ('torch'), related to *blas- ('shining, white'). Morphologically, the word is transparent as a compound: its parts remain visible in the modern spelling, while the older history of those parts supplies the deeper ancestry. In modern use, the adjective sense is "burning fiercely or brightly lit up", which keeps the etymology connected to the word's present dictionary value rather than treating it as a merely historical label. The wider word family includes related English forms such as blaze, blazing, showing how the same base continues to support neighboring English vocabulary. The principal historical forms in the chain include Old English blæse, Proto-Germanic *blasǭ, Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-, which anchor the explanation in named linguistic material.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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