hot
Americanadjective
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having or giving off heat; having a high temperature.
a hot fire;
hot coffee.
- Antonyms:
- cold
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having or causing a sensation of great bodily heat; attended with or producing such a sensation.
He was hot with fever.
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creating a burning sensation, as on the skin or in the throat.
This ointment is hot, so apply it sparingly.
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sharply peppery or pungent.
Is this mustard hot?
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having or showing intense or violent feeling; ardent; fervent; vehement; excited.
a hot temper.
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Informal. having a strong enthusiasm; eager.
a hot baseball fan.
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Slang.
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sexually aroused; lustful.
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sexy; attractive.
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violent, furious, or intense.
the hottest battle of the war.
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strong or fresh, as a scent or trail.
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absolutely new; fresh.
a dozen new mystery stories hot from the press.
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requiring immediate delivery or correspondence; demanding priority.
The hot freight must be delivered by 10:00 a.m. tomorrow, or we'll lose the contract.
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Slang. skillful in a reckless or daring way.
a hot pilot.
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following very closely; close.
to be hot on the trail of a thief.
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(of colors) extremely intense.
hot pink.
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Informal. popular and commercially successful; in demand; marketable.
The Beatles were a hot group in the 1960s.
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Slang. extremely lucky, good, or favorable.
A poker player has to have a hot hand to win the pot.
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Slang. (in sports and games) playing well or winningly; scoring effectively.
a hot pitcher.
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Slang. funny; absurd.
That's a hot one!
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Games. close to the object or answer that is being sought.
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Informal. extremely exciting or interesting; sensational or scandalous.
a hot news story.
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Jazz.
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(of music) emotionally intense, propulsive, and marked by aggressive attack and warm, full tone.
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(of a musician) skilled in playing hot jazz.
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Informal. (of a vehicle) capable of attaining extremely high speeds.
a hot new jet plane.
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Slang.
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Informal. in the mood to perform exceedingly well, or rapidly, as during a burst of creative work.
Finish writing that story while you're still hot.
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actively conducting an electric current or containing a high voltage.
a hot wire.
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of, relating to, or noting radioactivity.
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Metalworking. noting any process involving plastic deformation of a metal at a temperature high enough to permit recrystallization due to the strain.
hot working.
adverb
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in a hot manner; hotly.
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while hot.
Garnish the potatoes with parsley and serve hot.
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Metalworking. at a temperature high enough to permit recrystallization.
The wire was drawn hot.
verb (used with or without object)
noun
idioms
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hot under the collar. collar.
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get hot, (in sports and games) to become very effective or successful; score or win repeatedly or easily.
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make it hot for, to make something unpleasant for; cause trouble for.
Ever since their argument the principal has been making it hot for the new teacher.
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hot and bothered, excited, aroused, or flustered: Also all hot and bothered.
This mistake isn't worth getting hot and bothered about.
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hot and heavy, in an intense, vehement, or passionate manner.
They argued hot and heavy for 20 minutes.
adjective
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having a relatively high temperature
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having a temperature higher than desirable
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causing or having a sensation of bodily heat
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causing a burning sensation on the tongue
hot mustard
a hot curry
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expressing or feeling intense emotion, such as embarrassment, anger, or lust
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intense or vehement
a hot argument
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recent; fresh; new
a hot trial
hot from the press
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ball games (of a ball) thrown or struck hard, and so difficult to respond to
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much favoured or approved
a hot tip
a hot favourite
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informal having a dangerously high level of radioactivity
a hot laboratory
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slang (of goods or money) stolen, smuggled, or otherwise illegally obtained
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slang (of people) being sought by the police
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informal sexually attractive
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(of a colour) intense; striking
hot pink
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close or following closely
hot on the scent
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informal at a dangerously high electric potential
a hot terminal
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physics having an energy level higher than that of the ground state
a hot atom
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slang impressive or good of its kind (esp in the phrase not so hot )
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slang jazz arousing great excitement or enthusiasm by inspired improvisation, strong rhythms, etc
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informal dangerous or unpleasant (esp in the phrase make it hot for someone )
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(in various searching or guessing games) very near the answer or object to be found
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metallurgy (of a process) at a sufficiently high temperature for metal to be in a soft workable state
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informal (of a price, charge, etc) excessive
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to punish or thrash someone
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informal
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very severe
the police are hot on drunk drivers
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particularly skilled at or knowledgeable about
he's hot on vintage cars
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informal aroused with anger, annoyance, etc
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informal in trouble, esp with those in authority
adverb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of hot
First recorded before 1000; 1920–25 hot for def. 23; Middle English ho(o)t, Old English hāt; cognate with Dutch heet, Old Norse heitr, Swedish het, Danish hed, German heiss
Explanation
Hot is the opposite of cold. This could mean a hot day in July, a baseball team on a hot streak, or a hot bikini model. Most meanings of hot have to do with heat: what makes us sweat. A stove can be red hot. Spicy food is hot, and newspapers used to be "hot off the presses" because the printing process actually warmed the paper. New things are often referred to as hot — like a hot new band. Stolen property is also called hot because you can't hold onto it too long or it will burn you — though perhaps not in the usual way.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
His truck, selling hot dogs, empanadas and fried shrimp, runs on rechargeable batteries as part of a city pilot aimed at cutting harmful noise and air pollution by harnessing electric energy.
From Barron's ● Jul. 25, 2026
Holland said he would “drink a shot of that hottest hot sauce” to prove he’s right.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
That could allow dry and hot weather to rebuild across many parts of England and Wales, with temperatures potentially climbing back into the 30s Celsius in places.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
“Convergence” is the hot buzzword in telecommunications these days, as companies see opportunities to sell consumers on a bundled suite of offerings.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026
The room feels hot and close and spinning.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
"But especially with younger kids, it's been absolutely brutal... I was here last summer, actually, and somehow it actually feels even hotter this year than it did a year ago."
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
Similarly, while La Niña brings drier and hotter weather in the south, it can create wetter and colder conditions in the northern U.S.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
I drew that potent conclusion from it when I first saw it, before our summers grew hotter and a long-ago sight I’d planned to repeat became something closer to a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026
Summer keeps getting hotter, but record temperatures aren’t keeping runners from their daily jogs or fall marathon training.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
Of course I didn’t know, would probably never know—if the experts were right, I would soon be dead, burned in intense white clouds hotter than the sun.
From This Side of Wild by Gary Paulsen
The hottest weather will initially focus itself on central and eastern England by Tuesday before spreading northwards and westwards.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026
The hottest place was Hamamatsu in the central Shizuoka region at 41.1C.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
Intel’s central processing units have become one of the hottest businesses on Wall Street this year, and artificial-intelligence demand for those chips could power the company to an earnings beat on Thursday.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
“This looks to be the hottest stretch so far this year,” said Ryan Kittell, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Oxnard office.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
She pulled her shawl closer, though it was the hottest day of the year.
From "A Long Way from Chicago" by Richard Peck
As debate hotted up, one Twitter user provided a sympathetic look at life from the view of an empty seat with @OlympicSeat, whose profile reads: "I feel nothing but emptiness."
From Reuters ● Aug. 12, 2012
Strong colors from cobalt blue to mixes of fuchsia and orange hotted up the show.
From New York Times ● Jun. 21, 2011
Capital immediately rejected the idea and said it would press on, and today the war of words hotted up.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 8, 2010
The race really hotted up on the penultimate lap when Heikki Kovalainen's Lotus burst into flames.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 26, 2010
As for the Dances, Charles and George to boot, What have they more Of ease and rest, for sole of either foot, Than bear that capers on a hotted floor!
From The Humorous Poetry of the English Language; from Chaucer to Saxe by Parton, James
Behind the top three, the battle for a place in next season's Champions League is hotting up as Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United all secured important wins.
From Barron's ● Feb. 1, 2026
And with awards season hotting up, we could be hearing more about the film in the weeks ahead.
From BBC ● Jan. 20, 2024
In New York, another Drum Cafe session is hotting up.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2022
The race for the top four is hotting up as Dortmund go cold.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 20, 2021
I thought things were hotting up a bit there.' i'm very sorry, sir.
From "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
