burn off
verb
Simple meaning
To dissipate as the result of heat.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
burnawfSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈbɝˈnɔf
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
intransitive
To dissipate as the result of heat.
transitive
To expend energy resulting from metabolizing food.
transitive
To cause to dissipate by applying heat.
transitive
To use up a resource in a nonproductive manner.
transitive
To speed past (someone), such as in a race, especially when first starting off.
Use up (energy)
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To dissipate as the result of heat.
Used this way, burn off is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
Share your sentence
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “burn off” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.