There is no smoke without fire
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Also seen as: Where there is smoke, there is fire
Meaning · English
A problem or issue is likely to exist if there are signs or rumors of it
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Nếu có dấu hiệu hoặc tin đồn, vấn đề có thể tồn tại
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: fire producing smoke
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Sources & notes
Listed on Wikipedia “List of proverbial phrases” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “There is no smoke without fire” mean?
A problem or issue is likely to exist if there are signs or rumors of it Literally: fire producing smoke
Is “There 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.