Library / English Dictionary

SCORCH

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A discoloration caused by heat

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("scorch" is a kind of...):

discoloration; discolouration; stain (a soiled or discolored appearance)

Derivation:

scorch (make very hot and dry)

Sense 2

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("scorch" is a kind of...):

plant disease (a disease that affects plants)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "scorch"):

leaf scorch (plant disease causing a burned or scorched appearance of the foliage)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A surface burn

Synonyms:

scorch; singe

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("scorch" is a kind of...):

burn (an injury caused by exposure to heat or chemicals or radiation)

Derivation:

scorch (make very hot and dry)

scorch (burn slightly and superficially so as to affect color)

scorch (destroy completely by or as if by fire)

scorch (become superficially burned)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Become scorched or singed under intense heat or dry conditions

Example:

The exposed tree scorched in the hot sun

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "scorch" is one way to...):

dry; dry out (become dry or drier)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make very hot and dry

Example:

The heat scorched the countryside

Synonyms:

scorch; sear

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "scorch" is one way to...):

heat; heat up (make hot or hotter)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "scorch"):

sizzle (burn or sear with a sizzling sound)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

scorch (a discoloration caused by heat)

scorch (a surface burn)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Burn slightly and superficially so as to affect color

Example:

the flames scorched the ceiling

Synonyms:

blacken; char; scorch; sear

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "scorch" is one way to...):

burn (damage by burning with heat, fire, or radiation)

Domain category:

cookery; cooking; preparation (the act of preparing something (as food) by the application of heat)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "scorch"):

singe; swinge (burn superficially or lightly)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

scorch (a surface burn)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Destroy completely by or as if by fire

Example:

the invaders scorched the land

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "scorch" is one way to...):

burn; burn down; fire (destroy by fire)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

scorch (a surface burn)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Become superficially burned

Example:

my eyebrows singed when I bent over the flames

Synonyms:

scorch; sear; singe

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "scorch" is one way to...):

burn; combust (undergo combustion)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

scorch (a surface burn)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The boiled tea was very bitter, the omelet scorched, and the biscuits speckled with saleratus, but Mrs. March received her repast with thanks and laughed heartily over it after Jo was gone.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I have been lucky enough to find it, and have brought it with me; but the heat of the sun scorches so that it begins to wither, and I don’t know that I can carry it farther.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

As he sat on my sofa, with his long knees drawn up under his coffee-cup, his hat and gloves upon the ground close to him, his spoon going softly round and round, his shadowless red eyes, which looked as if they had scorched their lashes off, turned towards me without looking at me, the disagreeable dints I have formerly described in his nostrils coming and going with his breath, and a snaky undulation pervading his frame from his chin to his boots, I decided in my own mind that I disliked him intensely.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

MESSENGER’s lonely demise on the small, scorched planet closest to the sun went unobserved because the probe hit the side of the planet facing away from Earth, so ground-based telescopes were not able to capture the moment of impact.

(NASA Completes MESSENGER Mission with Expected Impact on Mercury's Surface, NASA)

My skin was scorching in the torment of fire.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Don't keep me long; the fire scorches me.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

From every side the cries arose, and the dogs betrayed their fear by huddling together and so close to the fire that their hair was scorched by the heat.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I had forgot the pasty, and it will be as scorched as Judas Iscariot!

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She did not dream of the volcanic convulsions of love, its scorching heat and sterile wastes of parched ashes.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Never! Well, I have a bad trick of standing before the fire, and so I burn my frocks, and I scorched this one, and though it's nicely mended, it shows, and Meg told me to keep still so no one would see it.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)