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.
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
Summers can be deadly in India, where the scorching heat causes various heat-related ailments in people and has even resulted in deaths.
From BBC • Apr. 24, 2026
One person died after queueing for hours in the scorching heat in the city of Rangpur, local media said.
From Barron's • Apr. 21, 2026
Al-Khazali said he was worried about disruptions to the power supply in the scorching summer months because Iraq, despite its oil reserves, depends partly on imported natural gas to keep power plants running.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 12, 2026
As Dad and Mother, dressed in dusters and wearing goggles, went scorching through the streets of Boston, bystanders tossed insults and ridicule in their direction.
From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
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.
