"firestorm" meaning in English

See firestorm in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: firestorms [plural], fire storm [alternative], fire-storm [alternative]
Etymology: From fire + storm. Etymology templates: {{af|en|fire|storm}} fire + storm Head templates: {{en-noun}} firestorm (plural firestorms)
  1. A fire whose intensity is greatly increased by inrushing winds. Translations (Fire intensity greatly increased by winds): fajroŝtormo (Esperanto), tulimyrsky (Finnish), Feuersturm [masculine] (German), tűzvihar (Hungarian), stoirm olldóiteáin [feminine] (Irish), 불바람 (bulbaram) (Korean), tormenta ígnea [feminine] (Spanish), conflagración [masculine] (Spanish), eldstorm [common-gender] (Swedish)
    Sense id: en-firestorm-en-noun-f~NvWIKn Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Esperanto translations, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Hungarian translations, Terms with Irish translations, Terms with Korean translations, Terms with Spanish translations, Terms with Swedish translations, Fire Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 76 24 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 75 25 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 85 15 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 88 12 Disambiguation of Terms with Esperanto translations: 74 26 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 71 29 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 71 29 Disambiguation of Terms with Hungarian translations: 78 22 Disambiguation of Terms with Irish translations: 71 29 Disambiguation of Terms with Korean translations: 71 29 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 81 19 Disambiguation of Terms with Swedish translations: 72 28 Disambiguation of Fire: 92 8 Disambiguation of 'Fire intensity greatly increased by winds': 95 5
  2. (figurative) An intense or violent altercation; an intense or violent response; an outburst (as of controversy) Tags: figuratively
    Sense id: en-firestorm-en-noun-At7w2IuZ
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: conflagration

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fire",
        "3": "storm"
      },
      "expansion": "fire + storm",
      "name": "af"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From fire + storm.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "firestorms",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fire storm",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fire-storm",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "firestorm (plural firestorms)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "76 24",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "75 25",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "85 15",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "88 12",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "74 26",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Esperanto translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "71 29",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "71 29",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "78 22",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Hungarian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "71 29",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Irish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "71 29",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Korean translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "81 19",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "72 28",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Swedish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "92 8",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Fire",
          "orig": "en:Fire",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A fire whose intensity is greatly increased by inrushing winds."
      ],
      "id": "en-firestorm-en-noun-f~NvWIKn",
      "links": [
        [
          "fire",
          "fire"
        ],
        [
          "intensity",
          "intensity"
        ],
        [
          "wind",
          "wind"
        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "95 5",
          "code": "eo",
          "lang": "Esperanto",
          "lang_code": "eo",
          "sense": "Fire intensity greatly increased by winds",
          "word": "fajroŝtormo"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "95 5",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "lang_code": "fi",
          "sense": "Fire intensity greatly increased by winds",
          "word": "tulimyrsky"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "95 5",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "lang_code": "de",
          "sense": "Fire intensity greatly increased by winds",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Feuersturm"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "95 5",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "lang_code": "hu",
          "sense": "Fire intensity greatly increased by winds",
          "word": "tűzvihar"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "95 5",
          "code": "ga",
          "lang": "Irish",
          "lang_code": "ga",
          "sense": "Fire intensity greatly increased by winds",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "stoirm olldóiteáin"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "95 5",
          "code": "ko",
          "lang": "Korean",
          "lang_code": "ko",
          "roman": "bulbaram",
          "sense": "Fire intensity greatly increased by winds",
          "word": "불바람"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "95 5",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "Fire intensity greatly increased by winds",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "tormenta ígnea"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "95 5",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "Fire intensity greatly increased by winds",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "conflagración"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "95 5",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "lang_code": "sv",
          "sense": "Fire intensity greatly increased by winds",
          "tags": [
            "common-gender"
          ],
          "word": "eldstorm"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              13,
              22
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2012, Ann Baynes Coiro, Thomas Fulton, Rethinking Historicism from Shakespeare to Milton, page 243:",
          "text": "In the print firestorm that followed the publication of the royal couple's letters, the generalissima was one polemical touchstone. The Annotations to The Kings Cabinet Opened itself depicted the queen as an enemy to king and country: […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              51,
              60
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2015 March 4, Jill Jacobs, “Shmuley Boteach isn’t ‘America’s rabbi’”, in The Washington Post, archived from the original on 29 Apr 2023:",
          "text": "This past weekend, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach set off a firestorm with his full-page ad in the New York Times accusing National Security Adviser Susan E. Rice of turning a blind eye to the Rwandan genocide when she was on President Bill Clinton’s national security team in the 1990s.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              163,
              172
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2025 March 13, Hilary Whiteman, “US tourist filmed running off with baby wombat flees Australia after visa threat”, in CNN, archived from the original on 14 Mar 2025:",
          "text": "An American tourist who was reportedly filmed picking up and running off with a wild baby wombat fled Australia after officials threatened to cancel her visa in a firestorm of criticism over the incident.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An intense or violent altercation; an intense or violent response; an outburst (as of controversy)"
      ],
      "id": "en-firestorm-en-noun-At7w2IuZ",
      "links": [
        [
          "intense",
          "intense"
        ],
        [
          "violent",
          "violent"
        ],
        [
          "altercation",
          "altercation"
        ],
        [
          "response",
          "response"
        ],
        [
          "outburst",
          "outburst"
        ],
        [
          "controversy",
          "controversy"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative) An intense or violent altercation; an intense or violent response; an outburst (as of controversy)"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "conflagration"
    }
  ],
  "word": "firestorm"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English compound terms",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Esperanto translations",
    "Terms with Finnish translations",
    "Terms with German translations",
    "Terms with Hungarian translations",
    "Terms with Irish translations",
    "Terms with Korean translations",
    "Terms with Spanish translations",
    "Terms with Swedish translations",
    "en:Fire"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fire",
        "3": "storm"
      },
      "expansion": "fire + storm",
      "name": "af"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From fire + storm.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "firestorms",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fire storm",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fire-storm",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "firestorm (plural firestorms)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A fire whose intensity is greatly increased by inrushing winds."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "fire",
          "fire"
        ],
        [
          "intensity",
          "intensity"
        ],
        [
          "wind",
          "wind"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              13,
              22
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2012, Ann Baynes Coiro, Thomas Fulton, Rethinking Historicism from Shakespeare to Milton, page 243:",
          "text": "In the print firestorm that followed the publication of the royal couple's letters, the generalissima was one polemical touchstone. The Annotations to The Kings Cabinet Opened itself depicted the queen as an enemy to king and country: […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              51,
              60
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2015 March 4, Jill Jacobs, “Shmuley Boteach isn’t ‘America’s rabbi’”, in The Washington Post, archived from the original on 29 Apr 2023:",
          "text": "This past weekend, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach set off a firestorm with his full-page ad in the New York Times accusing National Security Adviser Susan E. Rice of turning a blind eye to the Rwandan genocide when she was on President Bill Clinton’s national security team in the 1990s.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              163,
              172
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2025 March 13, Hilary Whiteman, “US tourist filmed running off with baby wombat flees Australia after visa threat”, in CNN, archived from the original on 14 Mar 2025:",
          "text": "An American tourist who was reportedly filmed picking up and running off with a wild baby wombat fled Australia after officials threatened to cancel her visa in a firestorm of criticism over the incident.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An intense or violent altercation; an intense or violent response; an outburst (as of controversy)"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "intense",
          "intense"
        ],
        [
          "violent",
          "violent"
        ],
        [
          "altercation",
          "altercation"
        ],
        [
          "response",
          "response"
        ],
        [
          "outburst",
          "outburst"
        ],
        [
          "controversy",
          "controversy"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative) An intense or violent altercation; an intense or violent response; an outburst (as of controversy)"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "conflagration"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "eo",
      "lang": "Esperanto",
      "lang_code": "eo",
      "sense": "Fire intensity greatly increased by winds",
      "word": "fajroŝtormo"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "Fire intensity greatly increased by winds",
      "word": "tulimyrsky"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "lang_code": "de",
      "sense": "Fire intensity greatly increased by winds",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Feuersturm"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "lang_code": "hu",
      "sense": "Fire intensity greatly increased by winds",
      "word": "tűzvihar"
    },
    {
      "code": "ga",
      "lang": "Irish",
      "lang_code": "ga",
      "sense": "Fire intensity greatly increased by winds",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "stoirm olldóiteáin"
    },
    {
      "code": "ko",
      "lang": "Korean",
      "lang_code": "ko",
      "roman": "bulbaram",
      "sense": "Fire intensity greatly increased by winds",
      "word": "불바람"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "Fire intensity greatly increased by winds",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "tormenta ígnea"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "Fire intensity greatly increased by winds",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "conflagración"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "lang_code": "sv",
      "sense": "Fire intensity greatly increased by winds",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "eldstorm"
    }
  ],
  "word": "firestorm"
}

Download raw JSONL data for firestorm meaning in English (4.4kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-01-16 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-01-01 using wiktextract (d1270d2 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.