no smoke without fire
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Also seen as: there's no smoke without fire
Meaning · English
Gossip and accusations are often substantiated by fact.
Where it’s used:
Used
American English
Examples
He is in many people's minds the next logical man to fill Charles ' place and there is no smoke without fire.
There is, as the British public commonly believes, no smoke without fire.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Adapted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30 via kaikki.org).
Common questions
What does “no smoke without fire” mean?
Gossip and accusations are often substantiated by fact.
Is “no smoke without fire” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.