Skip to main content
to burn

to burn

636 1.8
To feel a hot, stinging pain after heat or chemicals
  • verb
  • /bɜrn/
: arder
  • If you stay in the sun too long, your skin will start to burn.
  • get burned
  • burning pain
  • burning eyes

You hurt yourself, it burns, it hurts, you tear up.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • Try not to try not to burn my tongue here.

  • You could, oh, you could burn yourself on this, right?

  • I would rather learn what it feels like to burn than feel nothing at all.

  • Oh my God, Dude, this is going to burn so fast.

  • So my arms were, were, were burning for the entire day after.

  • For example, if you burn yourself on hot coffee in Denmark, you burn yourself on hot coffee.

    Academic text (2011)
  • But my skin doesn't burn, which is good.

  • You hurt yourself, it burns, it hurts, you tear up.

  • When he returns, they eat and talk, and John's heart burns with an old longing.

  • He's burning with fever!

Synonyms

to hurt
vsto burn
∞ 1.0

Make someone suffer physical or emotional pain

is more specific to hot sensations and pain from heat or chemicals
to sting
vsto burn
152 2.3

To feel a sharp, sudden pain like an insect bite

is more often caused by heat, sun, chemicals, or strong emotion
to bite
vsto burn
19 3.1

To cause a sharp, stinging pain, often from cold or wind

is more often caused by heat, sun, chemicals, or strong emotion
to scorch
vsto burn
12 3.5

To burn the surface slightly and make a brown mark

is about causing hot sensations and pain in people rather than surface change

Antonyms

225 1.0

To make or become less warm

75 3.4

To make someone feel calmer or reduce their pain

Idioms

to burn in hell
  • Offensive
44 9.6

Say that you want someone to suffer forever after they die

To tie a person to a stake and burn them as punishment or to strongly criticize them in public

to feel the burn
  • Informal
8 8.0

To have a strong burning feeling in the muscles during hard exercise

7 5.1

Work or study late at night to finish something

To work late at night and early in the morning so you become very tired

Money makes someone want to spend it quickly

to burn in effigy
  • Offensive
3 8.9

Burn a dummy or picture of someone in public to show strong anger

3 7.7

To end a relationship or opportunity so you cannot use it again

dad burn
  • Archaic
1 9.9

A mild phrase people say to show annoyance without using strong swear words

1 8.1

Lose money or get hurt because of a mistake you make

8.7

Make a party very lively and exciting

Phrasal Verbs

291 3.0

To destroy a building or object completely by fire

86 3.7

To be completely destroyed by fire

52 4.7

Stop working, especially things like lights or fuses, because they get too hot from too much use

35 5.6

Clear land of plants by burning them

15 3.2

Become used up by fire or slowly disappear over time from heat and light

12 3.0

Use coal as fuel to make heat or electricity

12 4.6

To light up suddenly with a strong flame or bright light

12 3.4

Use up energy by physical activity

to burn rubber
  • Informal
7 7.0

Drive a car very fast so the tires spin and smoke

6 3.4

To use energy from the body or fuel when you move

to burn time
  • Informal
2 7.5

To pass time by doing something not useful while you wait

to burn down
  • Jargon
1 3.9

To reduce work left in a project

to burn in
  • Specialized
1 6.9

Run new devices for a while to make sure they work well

Compounds

third-degree burn
  • Specialized
17 4.8

A very serious injury that destroys all skin layers can cause numbness and needs medical treatment

14 2.4

A dark spot on skin or cloth made when something hot touches it

second-degree burn
  • Specialized
14 3.4

A skin injury that causes painful blisters and redness

A small mark a cigarette makes on skin or clothes

burn center
  • Specialized
5 3.9

A hospital unit that treats people with serious burns

5 3.9

An area of skin rubbed and hurt by a rough cord

burn rate
  • Specialized
2 6.5

The speed a company spends money each month

first-degree burn
  • Specialized
2 3.4

A mild injury to the top layer of the skin that causes redness and pain without blisters

burn bag
  • Formal
2 7.9

A strong locked bag for holding secret papers to be burned

An injury caused when electricity passes through the body and damages skin or tissue

1 5.2

A skin scrape you get when you fall or slide on a road

A change that happens slowly over a long time

A film or book that builds tension slowly and ends with a big moment

A plant with thick spiny leaves that has a cooling gel for sunburn called Aloe vera

burn rate
  • Jargon
7.4

The speed tokens are permanently removed from circulation

How Painful

to sear
32 6.1
to scald
12 4.8
to burn
636 1.8
sting
52 1.4
tingle
23 3.3

Surface Forms

burn infinitive
burned past
burned past participle
burning present participle
burns third person singular
burnt past
burnt past participle

Etymology

Burn comes from the old English bærnan meaning 'to be on fire', and by extension it also means to feel or cause a hot, stinging sensation, like the heat from the sun or spicy food.