brushfire — English Dictionary

Noun

1. A large fire in a scrubland or prairie, as opposed to a forest fire, which occurs in forests.

2. A war that arises suddenly and is limited in scope or area.

   Usage

   • attributive
   • Figurative

   Examples

   More examples (2)

   It may be a brushfire operation or an operation on the scale of the Korean war; it will certainly not involve the home territories of the United States and Soviet Russia as theaters of hostilities.

   I grant you it may not be in the actual application of mechanical devices, but if you have the volume to have supremacy in a major war it is obvious you would have the volume to take care of a brushfire war.

   If a brushfire conflict does threaten superpower interests, or the general peace, a superpower may intervene in an unusual way.