burning
Americanadjective
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aflame; on fire.
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very hot; simmering.
The water was burning.
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very bright; glowing.
She wore a burning red bathing suit.
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caused by or as if by fire, a burn, or heat.
He had a burning sensation in his throat.
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intense; passionate.
a burning desire.
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urgent or crucial.
a burning question.
noun
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burnings
plural
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the state, process, sensation, or effect of being on fire, burned, or subjected to intense heat.
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the baking of ceramic products to develop hardness and other properties.
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the heating or the calcining of certain ores and rocks as a preliminary stage in various industrial processes.
adjective
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intense; passionate
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urgent; crucial
a burning problem
noun
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a form of heat treatment used to harden and finish ceramic materials or to prepare certain ores for further treatment by calcination
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overheating of an alloy during heat treatment in which local fusion or excessive oxide formation and penetration occur, weakening the alloy
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the heat treatment of particular kinds of gemstones to change their colour
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of burning
First recorded before 1000; Middle English brenning, Old English byrnende; see burn 1, -ing 1, -ing 2
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:
As much as 18% of the phytoliths showed signs of burning or melting.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 15, 2026
A Khamis Mushait resident told AFP he heard "intense blasts" which left fires burning for a "long time".
From Barron's ● Sep. 14, 2026
Despite the burning summer, spin has become a redundant weapon.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
“It’s so thrilling when someone approaches you with something they are burning about, and I couldn’t say no.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
I looked up into Marlene’s face, and saw the fires of the city burning in her troubled eye.
From "An Elephant in the Garden" by Michael Morpurgo
In August 2023, Sweden's intelligence service Sapo raised its threat level to four on a scale of one to five, saying the Koran burnings had made the country a "prioritised target".
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2025
On Friday, she urged people to get copies of The Handmaid's tale before "they have public book burnings of it".
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2025
From there, your personal security detail can ferry you around town, to any number of errands, book signings, book burnings or, presumably, wherever you’d like to bring a few armed beefcakes.
From Salon ● Feb. 24, 2025
"As natural habitats adapted to these controlled burnings, we see the expansion of fire-adapted species such as Eucalyptus, primarily on the wetter, eastern side of the Bass Strait islands," said Adeleye.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 16, 2024
King began his speech, “Beyond Vietnam,” by acknowledging he was moved to “break the betrayal of my own silences and to speak from the burnings of my own heart.”
From "Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam" by Elizabeth Partridge
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.
