Dictionary

firestorm en · NOUN

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *péh₂wr̥ Proto-Germanic *fōr Proto-West Germanic *fuir Old English fȳr Middle English fyr English fire English storm English firestorm From fire + storm.

Meanings

1. A fire whose intensity is greatly increased by inrushing winds.
2. (figuratively) An intense or violent altercation; an intense or violent response; an outburst (as of controversy)
   • 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. 2015 March 4, Jill Jacobs, “Shmuley Boteach isn’t ‘America’s rabbi’”, in The Washington Post, archived from the original on 29 Apr 2023:
   • 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: […] 2012, Ann Baynes Coiro, Thomas Fulton, Rethinking Historicism from Shakespeare to Milton, page 243:
   • 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. 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:

Forms

Synonyms

conflagration

Translations (9)

hu tűzvihar (Fire intensity greatly increased by winds) · ko 불바람 (Fire intensity greatly increased by winds) · es conflagración (Fire intensity greatly increased by winds) · fi tulimyrsky (Fire intensity greatly increased by winds) · es tormenta ígnea (Fire intensity greatly increased by winds) · eo fajroŝtormo (Fire intensity greatly increased by winds) · de Feuersturm (Fire intensity greatly increased by winds) · ga stoirm olldóiteáin (Fire intensity greatly increased by winds) · sv eldstorm (Fire intensity greatly increased by winds)