scorch

1. 1.

   make very hot and dry

   “The heat scorched the countryside”

   Synonymssear

   Broaderheat

   Narrowersizzle
2. 2.

   become superficially burned

   “my eyebrows singed when I bent over the flames”

   Synonymssearsinge

   Broaderburn
3. 3.

   destroy completely by or as if by fire

   “The wildfire scorched the forest and several homes”

   “the invaders scorched the land”

   Broaderburn
4. 4.

   burn slightly and superficially so as to affect color

   “The cook blackened the chicken breast”

   “The fire charred the ceiling above the mantelpiece”

   “the flames scorched the ceiling”

   Synonymscharblackensear

   Broaderburn

   Narrowersinge

   cooking

5. 5.

   become scorched or singed under intense heat or dry conditions

   “The exposed tree scorched in the hot sun”

   Broaderdry

1. 1.

   a surface burn

   Synonymssinge

   Broaderburn
2. 2.

   a plant disease that produces a browning or scorched appearance of plant tissues

   Broaderplant disease

   Narrowerleaf scorch
3. 3.

   a discoloration caused by heat

   Broaderstain

Other forms of scorch

plural

scorches·

past tense

scorched·

present participle

scorching·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about scorch

What does scorch mean?

scorch means "make very hot and dry". That is the primary sense; the word has 8 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in scorch?

scorch has 1 syllable: scorch. In IPA it is /ˈskɔɹtʃ/.

What is another word for scorch?

Close synonyms include sear, sear, singe, char, blacken. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is scorch a common word?

scorch is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.