singe
Americanverb (used with object)
-
singes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
singed,
past participle, past
-
singeing
present participle
noun
-
singes
plural
-
a superficial burn.
-
the act of singeing.
verb
-
to burn or be burnt superficially; scorch
to singe one's clothes
-
(tr) to burn the ends of (hair, etc)
-
(tr) to expose (a carcass) to flame to remove bristles or hair
noun
Synonym Usage
See burn 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
singesimple
-
singessimple
-
have singedperfect
-
has singedperfect
-
am singeingprogressive
-
are singeingprogressive
-
is singeingprogressive
-
have been singeingperfect progressive
-
has been singeingperfect progressive
Past
-
singedsimple
-
had singedperfect
-
was singeingprogressive
-
were singeingprogressive
-
had been singeingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of singe
First recorded before 1000; Middle English sengen (verb), Old English sencgan; cognate with Dutch zengen, German sengen; akin to Old Norse sangr “singed, burnt”
Explanation
To burn something just a little bit is to singe it. If you get too close to your backyard fire pit, you might singe your shirt sleeve. When you singe your finger on a hot stove, it hurts, and when you singe your scarf on a campfire, you'll smell it starting to burn. The verb singe comes from the Old English root word sengan, "to burn lightly, or to burn the edges." One trick to the word singe is that when you add an ing, you need to be sure you keep the e — otherwise, instead of singeing, you'll be singing.
Vocabulary lists containing singe
"Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" by Rudyard Kipling
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
The Sea of Monsters
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
"Uprising," Vocabulary from the historical novel
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
The mural survived the Palisades fire with minor singe marks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 15, 2025
A little singe around the edges of the bread will remind you of the coal-fire char of the original.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 23, 2023
In the oven’s heat, their tips singe and brown, turning irresistibly crisp.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 18, 2022
She would inspect chicken livers to excise discolored spots, and singe pinfeathers off chicken over a gas flame.
From New York Times ● May 2, 2022
Alex felt it singe his shoulders, yelled, and threw himself to one side.
From "Stormbreaker" by Anthony Horowitz
The fried chicken is typically coated in a mixture of cayenne and paprika that singes the tongue.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2025
In an Aug. 12 inspection, Mr. Nimz found no major signs of char, cracks or singes to the main trunk or most of the tree’s more than 40 aerial roots.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 20, 2023
Kyrgios beats Rafa, actual pain singes my neural pathways.
From Golf Digest ● Jan. 27, 2020
And the dialogue, oh, how it singes and sears!
From Washington Post ● Apr. 1, 2019
Roosevelt belonged to the other school in the conduct of affairs which Anatole France praises because it never forgets that men are "des mauvais singes."
From Behind the Mirrors The Psychology of Disintegration at Washington by Clinton W. (Clinton Wallace) Gilbert
Possibly singed and mostly sandy, they storm the Mediterranean and return to their grills wet, steaming, and triumphant.
From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026
Hearty slices of calamari singed on the plancha gleam in the fading sunlight.
From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026
As she spoke, her eye caught sight of some new greenery already popping up in a completely singed field.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2026
Visually epic, sonically relentless and otherwise fatuous, the film has a dramatic inertia occasionally punctuated by eruptions of utter catastrophe—a series of shocks that leaves you singed, shaken and not much better for it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 13, 2025
He’d survived the same fire I had, though his wings were so singed he would never fly properly again.
From "Willodeen" by Katherine Applegate
I dipped them in the hardening brown goo with the scalding pan resting on a flowery potholder, one at a time, singeing my fingertips and waving my hand in pain.
From Salon ● Dec. 4, 2022
They pick through the smoldering charcoal that’s been burned in the kiln for pieces that can still be used, inhaling the soot and singeing their fingers.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 21, 2022
With war singeing the European Union’s eastern edge, French voters will make a choice in a presidential election that will have an effect beyond the country’s borders.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2022
Sometimes he sets fire to the topmost layer, singeing its surface and revealing what’s below.
From The New Yorker ● Mar. 18, 2019
I lit the match and it sizzled to life, the burnt sulfur smell singeing my nostrils.
From "From Twinkle, with Love" by Sandhya Menon
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.
