scorching
Americanadjective
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burning; very hot.
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caustic or scathing.
a scorching denunciation.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of scorching
Explanation
Use the adjective scorching to mean extremely hot. The scorching heat from a wildfire tar on roads and char nearby houses and trees. There's a huge difference between a warm day and a scorching one; the word implies a brutal heat. If the weather is scorching, you'll be desperate for air conditioning, iced drinks, or the relief of a cold shower. You can also use it to mean "harsh," like a critic's scorching review of a really terrible movie. Etymologists suspect that scorching is derived from the Old Norse skorpna, "to be shriveled."
Vocabulary lists containing scorching
A Rover's Story
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I Survived the San Francisco Earthquake, 1906
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The School for Invisible Boys
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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.
One idea is that powerful winds drag the clouds deep into the planet's atmosphere on the scorching day side, effectively hiding them from view.
From Science Daily • May 27, 2026
Pep Guardiola had been playing it cool in the scorching heat that accompanied his final game in charge of Manchester City.
From BBC • May 24, 2026
World Cup matches will be played with the stadium's roof closed, but outside the climate-controlled venue, Houston's streets will likely see scorching summer temperatures with a heat index hovering around 40 Celsius.
From Barron's • May 12, 2026
Austin Reaves bounced back from his disastrous Game 1 with 31 points and LeBron James was LeBron with 23 points and Rui Hachimura continued his scorching shooting with 16.
From Los Angeles Times • May 8, 2026
The fire in the old grove was blazing high and wild, scorching the leaves off anything near it.
From "Tangerine" by Edward Bloor
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.
