sizzle
Americanverb (used without object)
-
sizzles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
sizzled,
past participle, past
-
sizzling
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
sizzles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
sizzled,
past participle, past
-
sizzling
present participle
noun
-
sizzles
plural
verb
-
to make the hissing sound characteristic of frying fat
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informal to be very hot
-
informal to be very angry
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
sizzlesimple
-
sizzlessimple
-
have sizzledperfect
-
has sizzledperfect
-
am sizzlingprogressive
-
are sizzlingprogressive
-
is sizzlingprogressive
-
have been sizzlingperfect progressive
-
has been sizzlingperfect progressive
Past
-
sizzledsimple
-
had sizzledperfect
-
was sizzlingprogressive
-
were sizzlingprogressive
-
had been sizzlingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sizzle
1595–1605; imitative; see -le
Explanation
When things sizzle, they make a sound like the hissing and popping you hear when you fry food in fat. Drop pieces of bacon in a hot pan and they'll sizzle. A grilled cheese sandwich sizzles in melted butter, and veggie burgers sizzle on a hot grill. You can also use sizzle in a figurative way, when it's so hot that you feel like food in a hot pan: "I'm not going to the pool today, I'll sizzle in the heat." This verb dates from about 1600, and it probably comes from the imitative Middle English sissen.
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:
When pitching “Sterling Point” to Amazon executives, Park said she used a sizzle reel cobbled together from home videos filmed in Muskoka.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
But you can still watch a sizzle reel of Argentina defeating Egypt and follow Switzerland vs.
From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2026
The buzz: Though lacking the sizzle of Brazil-Morocco, Group C’s other first-day matchup is no less important.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2026
‘This is the sizzle in the restaurant world.’
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 25, 2026
There was a light popping noise, then a sizzle out in front of Bunker Six.
From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien
Recorded in just three days, this album of blues covers sizzles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
Produced and directed by Ernst Lubitsch and written by his frequent collaborator Samson Raphaelson, this Paramount picture, running a pert 82 minutes, positively shimmers with wit and sizzles with innuendo.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 10, 2026
"The leads are captivating and their chemistry sizzles," he said.
From BBC ● Feb. 10, 2026
Chicken drumsticks simmer in a sticky sauce; a whole fish sizzles in a frying pan; an unctuous golden curry bubbles.
From New York Times ● Nov. 22, 2023
It sizzles again, then turns the sprouts brown.
From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri
Aromatics are sizzled — onion, garlic, ginger — followed by tomato and warming spices, including cinnamon and smoked chile.
From Salon ● Apr. 3, 2026
Pots clanged and oil sizzled inside the London kitchen of Syrian chef Imad Alarnab, as the former refugee who fled his country's civil war recalled hosting King Charles III.
From Barron's ● Mar. 2, 2026
Steam rises from snack stands selling noodles and sizzled octopus on sticks on the Chinese side.
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2024
Carne asada, with impeccably seasoned lion’s mane mushrooms standing in for steak, sizzled on the grill as plumes of smoke filled the air.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2024
I lit the match and it sizzled to life, the burnt sulfur smell singeing my nostrils.
From "From Twinkle, with Love" by Sandhya Menon
I did the same: three dishes for lunch on my own, a whole fried fish in a sweet-tart sauce, braised pork in a clay pot, and tofu in a sizzling skillet.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
For many, the smell of charcoal and sizzling meat is the scent of summer.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
But for all of the Stones’ gusto, it’s the cover versions that find them at their sizzling best.
From Salon ● Jul. 13, 2026
A brush fire erupted on the border of Los Angeles and Ventura counties amid sizzling temperatures Thursday afternoon, prompting evacuation warnings near Lake Piru.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
The little man—if man he was, which Tristran found rather unlikely—sighed mournfully and reached into the pan sizzling on the fire, with his knife, and flicked two large mushrooms into Tristran's tin bowl.
From "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman
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.
