a slow burn

slow burn

A gradual development that increases in strength or power over time. It's going to be a slow burn before we start earning serious money on this app. The rebellion against the government had been a slow burn, as decades of mistreatment slowly fueled the fires of unrest.
See also: burn, slow
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

a slow burn

A slow burn is a feeling or effect that develops gradually. In a single weekend the slow burn of public disgust turned into a bonfire. He promised a slow burn campaign over the next 18 months to support the idea of economic change. Note: In American English, people say that someone does a slow burn if they gradually become more and more angry. Wilson, sensing a challenge to his power, did a slow burn.
See also: burn, slow
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.
See also:
  • slow burn
  • make (one's) way back (to something or some place)
  • make way back
  • go for the burn
  • burn up the road
  • burn with
  • burn with (something)
  • register on
  • register on (something)
  • swipe right
References in periodicals archive
"A Slow Burn" is the second story in the Defiance Texas Trilogy, following Emory Chance as she is driven to find her daughter's murderer.