scorch
verb · noun
Simple meaning
Destroy completely by or as if by fire.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
skawrchIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈskɔɹtʃ
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
Destroy completely by or as if by fire
“The wildfire scorched the forest and several homes.”
transitive
To burn the surface of something so as to discolour it
To burn; to destroy by, or as by, fire.
transitive
To wither, parch or destroy something by heat or fire, especially to make land or buildings unusable to an enemy
Burn slightly and superficially so as to affect color
intransitive
To move at high speed (so as to leave scorch marks on the ground, physically or figuratively).
noun
A slight or surface burn.
A discolouration caused by heat.
Word at a Glance
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Destroy completely by or as if by fire
Used this way, scorch is a common word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“The wildfire scorched the forest and several homes.”
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- parch , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use scorch
- “The wildfire scorched the forest and several homes.”verb
- “The exposed tree scorched in the hot sun.”verb
- “The heat scorched the countryside.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Capable of causing burns.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The target company defends itself by selling off its crown jewels.
Plant disease causing a burned or scorched appearance of the foliage.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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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.