sear
verb · adjective · noun
Simple meaning
To wither; to dry up.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
sirIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsɪɹ
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
To wither; to dry up.
transitive
To char, scorch, or burn the surface of (something) with a hot instrument.
Cause to wither or parch from exposure to heat
transitivefigurative
To mark permanently, as if by burning.
transitivefigurative
To make callous or insensible.
adjective
Dry; withered, especially of vegetation.
noun
Part of a gun that retards the hammer until the trigger is pulled.
A scar produced by searing
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To wither; to dry up.
Used this way, sear 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
Nearby words
- parch , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A hot iron used to destroy tissue.
A skyscraper built in Chicago in 1974.
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Words can change meaning depending on context.
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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.