scorching
Americanadjective
-
burning; very hot.
-
caustic or scathing.
a scorching denunciation.
Other Word Forms
- scorchingly adverb
- unscorching adjective
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.
Maybe, if you’re lucky, you’ll be treated to their scorching cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground.”
From Salon • Apr. 4, 2026
It’s finally expected to cool down in Southern California this weekend after a scorching heat wave this week broke temperature records across the region.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 20, 2026
It required ignoring a scorching climate and unrest in the region going back decades.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 13, 2026
But the new-era stocks put up scorching gains through that period.
From Barron's • Feb. 26, 2026
Showing no mercy, the sun burns through my black clothes, scorching the oil on my skin.
From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung
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.
