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Glite Dictionary
to flare out

to flare out

1 3.8
To become wider at one end like a dress or vase
  • phrasal verb
  • /flɛr aʊt/
translation icon : ensancharse
  • The dress flares out at the bottom, creating a beautiful silhouette.
  • skirt flared out
  • flaring out at the knee
  • flare out to your sides

And I just brush straight up and it flares out just a little bit.

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Examples

  • Do you see how they start off very short in the front and then they flare out towards the ends?

  • Then it goes down straight until the waist and then it flares out quite a bit.

    Justine Leconte officiel

  • Well, it can start to flare out a little bit here.

  • And it came right here and then it kind of flared out right here.

  • It's pretty similar to the red one they were wearing; it probably should have flared out a bit more, though.

    Blog text (4)

  • One of them flares out at the knees.

  • And I just brush straight up and it flares out just a little bit.

    Rosanna Pansino

  • The red skirt flared out wide and short and had a modest but sexy fringe on it.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • She was dressed in white, as if for church, and her skirt flared out around her slim legs as she turned.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • Two-thirds of the way back toward the stern, the ship's body flared out again to accommodate the star drives.

    Fiction book (1998)

Synonyms

to fan out
vsto flare out
30 3.7

To spread out from one point in different directions

is focused on one end widening rather than radiating from a center
to flare
vsto flare out
15 4.1

To become wider at one end or edge

is about widening specifically at one end rather than other spreading
to spread out
vsto flare out
4 3.2

To turn a body part outward from the middle

is about becoming wider toward the bottom not just rotating outward
splay
vsto flare out
7.5

Turned outward and spread, often in an awkward way

is similar but denotes neater gradual widening at one end

How Wide

to expand
805 2.5
to fan out
30 3.7
to flare out
1 3.8
to widen
85 2.5
splay
7.5

Surface Forms

flare out infinitive
flared out past
flared out past participle
flaring out present participle
flares out third person singular

Morphology

flare + out

The verb 'flare' already denotes widening or spreading and the particle 'out' simply reinforces an outward direction, so the combined meaning is directly derivable from the constituents. This verb + particle composition is a common, compositional English pattern (and has parallels in many languages), so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily understand 'flare out'.

Etymology

Flare out comes from the picture of something opening and spreading at the end, like a skirt, a vase, or the bell of a trumpet. Here flare gives the idea of widening and out shows moving away, so it means 'to become wider at one end'.