incinerate

American  

[in-sin-uh-reyt] / ɪnˈsɪn əˌreɪt /

verb (used with object)

incinerated, incinerating

1. to burn or reduce to ashes; cremate.

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incinerate British  

/ ɪnˈsɪnəˌreɪt /

verb

1. to burn up completely; reduce to ashes

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Other Word Forms

• incineration noun
• unincinerated adjective

Etymology

Origin of incinerate

1545–55; < Medieval Latin incinerātus (past participle of incinerāre ) < Latin in- in- ² + ciner- (stem of cinis ) ashes + -ātus -ate ¹

Explanation

See incinerate and think: "burn, baby, burn!" Whether it’s an old love letter that makes you sad or a terrible picture of yourself, it might be better just to incinerate it, meaning, you burn it. When you burn something beyond recognition, you incinerate it, as its Latin origins in incinerare, or "into ashes" shows. Once you incinerate something, that’s pretty much all that’s left: ashes. The word has a formal feel and is often used to refer to the removal of waste material — your city might incinerate garbage, for example — but you can use it any time you need to reduce something to ashes.

Example Sentences

There’s “torch,” at the high end of high intensity, when flames rise into the forest crown and incinerate everything.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 13, 2026

It is promoting waste-to-energy sites that incinerate garbage and produce electricity, with 34 planned within two years.

From Barron's • Feb. 17, 2026

It describes the behavior of some speculators in volatile stocks or cryptocurrencies who incinerate more of their savings after failing to cash in on big paper gains.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 9, 2026

If anyone in crypto billed themselves as the kind of actors who wouldn’t incinerate, misallocate, or steal customers’ money, it was Bankman-Fried and FTX.

From Slate • Oct. 3, 2023

Here the prefix in is for emphasis, as in words like incinerate, incoming and intense.

From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner

Related Words

• consume
• cremate
• ignite
• scorch
• torch