fire opal
- noun
- /ˈfaɪər ˈoʊpəl/
- Specialized
:
ópalos de fuego
- He bought a beautiful fire opal pendant as a gift for his daughter’s birthday.
- fire opals and diamonds
Examples
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l gave somebody a fire opal once.
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Remember when you spent your last cent... on that fire opal ring for your wife?
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l had a friend once who was as crazy about fire opals as l am.
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Fire opal this size, i... it's magnificent.
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The jewelry store had a stunning selection of fire opals in vibrant shades of orange and red.
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During her trip to Mexico, she discovered an exquisite fire opal that caught her eye.
Synonyms
14
5.1
A shiny stone that shows bright flashes of colour and is used in jewellery
A gem that shows bright orange, yellow and red colors
How Fiery
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is transparently compositional: 'fire' describes the fiery orange/red/yellow appearance and 'opal' names the gemstone, so a learner who knows both words can infer it is an opal with fire-like colors. This follows a common modifier+noun pattern cross-linguistically, making the meaning predictable to a B1 learner.
Etymology
The name fire opal comes from the gem's bright, flame-like colors. It joins fire, because the stone looks like glowing flames of orange, yellow and red, and opal, so it means a gemstone with those vivid colors.