singe
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A burning of the surface.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
sinjIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsɪndʒ
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.
noun
A burning of the surface; a slight burn.
verb
Burn superficially or lightly
transitive
To burn slightly.
transitive
To remove the hair or down from (a plucked chicken, etc.) by passing it over a flame.
transitive
To remove the nap of (cloth), by passing it rapidly over a red-hot bar, or over a flame, preliminary to dyeing it.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A burning of the surface; a slight burn.
Used this way, singe is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It stays understated rather than dramatic. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Mild
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use singe
- “My eyebrows singed when I bent over the flames.”verb
- “I singed my eyebrows.”verb
Share your sentence
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
A person who sings.
The act of singing vocal music.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The musical quality of the voice while singing.
A singer of lieder.
A singer of folk songs.
A singer (usually a woman) who specializes in singing torch songs.
A singer of folk songs.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: burning of the surface
Use This Word
See how this word sounds in a real sentence.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “singe” 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.