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“Flair” or “Flare”

flair / flare are similar-sounding terms with different meanings (referred to as homophones). To better understand the differences, see below for definitions, pronunciation guides, and example sentences using each term.

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Definitions

What each term means

Same sound, different spellings and meanings, shown with a pronunciation guide for each term.

flair f·l·EH·r

  • nouna natural talent.

flare f·l·EH·r

  • nouna shape that spreads outward.
  • nouna sudden burst of flame.
  • nouna burst of light used to communicate or illuminate.
  • nounreddening of the skin spreading outward from a focus of infection or irritation.
  • nouna sudden recurrence or worsening of symptoms.
  • nounam unwanted reflection in an optical system (or the fogging of an image that is caused by such a reflection).
  • nouna sudden outburst of emotion.
  • nouna device that produces a bright light for warning or illumination or identification.
  • noun(baseball) a fly ball hit a short distance into the outfield.
  • verbburn brightly.
  • verbshine with a sudden light.
Usage

Examples in context

Real sentences for each spelling. Hover an example to copy it.

“flair”

  • …Madea enters with her usual flair and quickly cuts through all…
  • …professional wrestler of all time, Flair had a career that spanned…
  • Flair (disambiguation)
  • …it's conceived with a risk-taking flair for old-fashioned movie magic at…
  • Throughout the 1980s, Flair defended the NWA World Heavyweight…
  • On October 21, 1985, Flair wrestled Rick Martel in a…
  • Ric Flair
  • Flair first competed in Japan in…
  • …adopting the ring name Ric Flair.
  • On April 27, 1978, Flair challenged for the NWA United…

“flare”

  • "Old hatreds Flare Over Neeson Freedom Award."
  • Satellite flare, a phenomenon caused by the…
  • "Flare", a song by pop punk…
  • Flare fitting, an expansion flare on…
  • Xara Flare, a file format in computing
  • A flare is a device that produces…
  • Gas flare or "flare stack", a gas…
  • Sky Flare, a Czech paraglider design
  • Flare Technology, a defunct computer hardware
  • Flare (film), a 2014 French-Japanese film…

Examples are Wikipedia snippets under the CC ShareAlike 3.0 license. Definitions are drawn from WordNet.

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