"fan the flames" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "fans the flames",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fanning the flames",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fanned the flames",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fanned the flames",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "fan the flames (third-person singular simple present fans the flames, present participle fanning the flames, simple past and past participle fanned the flames)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English predicates",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2002, Scott Hunt, The Future of Peace: On the Front Lines with the World's Great Peacemakers, HarperCollins, published 2004, →ISBN, page 207:",
          "text": "In simple terms, both superpowers poured gasoline on the fire and fanned the flames, hoping that out of the ashes would arise a region committed either to democracy or to Soviet-style communism.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Barbara Cartland, A Dream Come True, M-Y Books Distribution, published 2007, →ISBN:",
          "text": "Far from putting a distance between them, his absence was only fanning the flames of her affection.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, Calvin F. Exoo, The Pen and the Sword: Press, War, and Terror in the 21st Century, SAGE Publications, Inc., published 2010, →ISBN, page 40:",
          "text": "They worried, too, that such a war would only fan the flames of the Islamic world's animosity toward the United States, producing \"a further cycle of terrorist attacks, American casualties and escalation\" […]",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Sarah Boslaugh, “Atlanta, Georgia”, in Wilbur R. Miller, editor, The Social History of Crime and Punishment in America: An Encyclopedia, Sage Publications, Inc., →ISBN, page 74:",
          "text": "Atlanta newspapers fanned the flames of racial hatred by carrying stories of lynchings and calling for a renewed Ku Klux Klan to “control” blacks.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Steve Faktor, Econovation: The Red, White, and Blue Pill for Arousing Innovation, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., published 2012, →ISBN:",
          "text": "What I don't see happening is the government fanning the flames of competition.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To intensify or worsen an already difficult situation."
      ],
      "id": "en-fan_the_flames-en-verb-idga1QF5",
      "links": [
        [
          "intensify",
          "intensify"
        ],
        [
          "worsen",
          "worsen"
        ],
        [
          "difficult",
          "difficult"
        ],
        [
          "situation",
          "situation"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To intensify or worsen an already difficult situation."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-fan the flames.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1b/En-au-fan_the_flames.ogg/En-au-fan_the_flames.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/En-au-fan_the_flames.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "fan the flames"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "fans the flames",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fanning the flames",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fanned the flames",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fanned the flames",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "fan the flames (third-person singular simple present fans the flames, present participle fanning the flames, simple past and past participle fanned the flames)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English predicates",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2002, Scott Hunt, The Future of Peace: On the Front Lines with the World's Great Peacemakers, HarperCollins, published 2004, →ISBN, page 207:",
          "text": "In simple terms, both superpowers poured gasoline on the fire and fanned the flames, hoping that out of the ashes would arise a region committed either to democracy or to Soviet-style communism.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Barbara Cartland, A Dream Come True, M-Y Books Distribution, published 2007, →ISBN:",
          "text": "Far from putting a distance between them, his absence was only fanning the flames of her affection.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, Calvin F. Exoo, The Pen and the Sword: Press, War, and Terror in the 21st Century, SAGE Publications, Inc., published 2010, →ISBN, page 40:",
          "text": "They worried, too, that such a war would only fan the flames of the Islamic world's animosity toward the United States, producing \"a further cycle of terrorist attacks, American casualties and escalation\" […]",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Sarah Boslaugh, “Atlanta, Georgia”, in Wilbur R. Miller, editor, The Social History of Crime and Punishment in America: An Encyclopedia, Sage Publications, Inc., →ISBN, page 74:",
          "text": "Atlanta newspapers fanned the flames of racial hatred by carrying stories of lynchings and calling for a renewed Ku Klux Klan to “control” blacks.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Steve Faktor, Econovation: The Red, White, and Blue Pill for Arousing Innovation, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., published 2012, →ISBN:",
          "text": "What I don't see happening is the government fanning the flames of competition.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To intensify or worsen an already difficult situation."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "intensify",
          "intensify"
        ],
        [
          "worsen",
          "worsen"
        ],
        [
          "difficult",
          "difficult"
        ],
        [
          "situation",
          "situation"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To intensify or worsen an already difficult situation."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-fan the flames.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1b/En-au-fan_the_flames.ogg/En-au-fan_the_flames.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/En-au-fan_the_flames.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "fan the flames"
}