- present participle of scorch.
scorching
Americanadjective
-
burning; very hot.
-
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.
Scorching temperatures that baked Southern California over Labor Day weekend will continue this week paired with thunderstorms and lightning strikes that will heighten fire risks across much of the state.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 2, 2025
Scorching heat and dry weather this summer have contributed to unusually severe wildfires in Europe and Canada.
From Reuters • Aug. 18, 2023
Scorching beach sand and bathtub-warm ocean water won’t offer much relief.
From Scientific American • Aug. 18, 2023
Scorching heat across the U.S. already has caused more than a dozen deaths in Texas alone and led to mounting misery for millions of people from the Pacific Northwest to the South.
From Seattle Times • Jul. 20, 2023
“Plenty to keep the inner creature satisfied. Scorching June weather, and a top-hole billet for snoozin’, what, what?”
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
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.
