Word Confusion: Flair versus Flare

Plural: flair

Plural for the noun: flares
Gerund: flaring

Third person present verb: flares
Past tense or past participle: flared
Present participle: flaring

• Bent
• Knack

[Mass noun] Stylishness and originality

Keen, intuitive perception or discernment

[Hunting; rare] The scent left by quarry

• Sense of smell of a hound

[Scottish] Floor

• A flaring or swaying flame or light, as of torches in the wind
• A bright blaze of fire or light used as a signal, a means of illumination or guidance, etc.
• [Countable noun] A device producing a bright flame, used especially as a signal or marker
• [In singular noun] A sudden burst of intense emotion
• [Astronomy] A sudden explosion in the chromosphere and corona of the sun or another star, resulting in an intense burst of radiation
• [Photography] A fogged appearance given to an image by reflection within a camera lens or within the camera itself

[In singular noun] A gradual widening, especially of a skirt or pants

• [Uncountable noun] An upward and outward curve of a vessel’s bow, designed to throw the water outward when under way

[flares] Trousers whose legs get progressively wider from the knees down

Something that spreads out

[Football] A short pass thrown to a back who is running toward a sideline and is not beyond the line of scrimmage

[Baseball] A low fly ball that is hit in the region between the infielders and the outfielders

[Television] A dark area on a CRT picture tube caused by variations in light intensity

[Aeronautics] The final transition phase of an aircraft landing, from the steady descent path to touchdown

Verb, intransitive:
[Often followed by up] Burn with a sudden intensity

• [Of a light or a person’s eyes] Glow or shine with a sudden intensity
• To burn with an unsteady, swaying flame, as a torch or candle in the wind
• [Of an emotion] Suddenly become manifest in a person or their expression
• [Of an illness or chronic medical complaint; flare up] Recur unexpectedly and cause further discomfort
• [Especially of an argument, conflict, or trouble] Suddenly become more violent, enraged, or intense
• Express sudden, fierce anger or passion
• [Often followed by up] To start up or burst out in sudden, fierce intensity or activity
• [flare up, flare out; of a person] Suddenly become angry

Gradually become wider at one end

• [Of a person’s nostrils] Dilate

Verb, transitive:
[Of a person] Cause (the nostrils) to dilate

To cause (a candle, torch, etc.) to burn with a swaying flame

To display conspicuously or ostentatiously

To signal by flares of fire or light

To cause (something) to spread gradually outward in form

[Metallurgy] To heat (a high-zinc brass) to such a high temperature that the zinc vapors begin to burn

To discharge and burn (excess gas) at a well or refinery

None of us had much artistic flair.

She dressed with flair.

Their window display has absolutely no flair at all.

She hd a flair for the exotic.

We want a casting director with a real flair for finding dramatic talent.

“In addition to the industry and accuracy which are indispensable to an editor, he has keen poetical appreciation and insight, and a flair which always leads him right” (Whitney).

Do we have a flare gun?

The helicopter spotted a flare set off by the crew.

She felt a flare of anger within her.

Scientists are still figuring out the role of sunspots in space weather, but they do know that when a flare erupts, sunspots are often nearby.

It is however very prone to lens flare — the lens hood basically can be no larger than a hood for a 150 mm lens.

As you knit, add a flare or curve a hem.

Fashions of the time were tank tops, tonic suits and trousers, flares, and long hair all round.

“The increasing buoyancy of a flared bow as it is immersed is also a plus” (Bow Flare).

Johnson ran a flare route and was screened by O’Malley.

Jones hits a little flare to left that falls for a single.

A crust spot on the cathode, which only emits at high drive levels, causes the electrons that pass through it to have a reduced velocity, forming the flare.

The captain executed the flare perfectly, and we lightly touched down.

Verb, intransitive:
The bonfire crackled and flared up.

The blaze across the water flared.

Her eyes flared at the stinging insult.

Alarm flared in her eyes.

Tempers flared.

Tracy’s pain has flared up again, this time almost beyond enduring.

It was a recurrent border dispute that flared up again.

She flared up, shouting at Jeff.

I love the flared skirt on this.

The dress flared out into a huge train.

His head lifted, his nostrils flaring.

I’m not a person who flares easily.

She sometimes flares out at the kids.

Verb, transitive:
He flared his nostrils as he caught her scent.

Once yellow brasses and manganese bronzes reach between 1,800°F to 2,000°F, allow them to flare for a few minutes, so the escaping zinc vapor flushes the melt (United).

Oil companies will no longer be allowed to flare off their gas by 2010.

That girl is flaring her scarf to attract attention again.

Watch out for the breeze! It’s flaring the candle.

“The issue would flare up, then die down, then flare up again” (Pesta)

“Her doctor told me the financial and family stress in her life had caused her MS to flare and left her vulnerable” (Dimond).