to torch

Examples

• All

• Many participants abandoned their pacific intentions and torched the municipal building, the police station, and the mayor's home.

  Academic text (2004)

• The looters must have torched it in several places to make it burn like this.

  Fiction book (1994)

• Pay us or we'll torch the motor.

  Mean Machine (2001)

• We can torch the place with the pig in it.

  Filth (2013)

• And the guy who torched my house?

  Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)

• - Don't try to push me around or I'll torch the place.

  Blood Hook (1987)

• After he killed her, he torched her studio apartment in West Los Angeles.

  Fiction book (1995)

• Maybe someone arriving to torch the building had seen Elena come out.

  Fiction book (1990)

• In 1981, Sinhalese nationalists torched the Tamil library of Jaffna in Sri Lanka.

  Academic text (2003)

• The arsonist was arrested after he planned to torch the abandoned warehouse.

Synonyms

B

to burn

vsto torch

∞ 1.0

To be on fire or damage something with heat

specifies deliberate ignition, particularly as an unlawful act

B

to burn down

vsto torch

121 3.0

To destroy a building or object completely by fire

focuses on purposeful starting of fires rather than the destruction result

S

to set on fire

vsto torch

110 3.0

Make something start burning

intentionally starts fires, especially as a deliberate criminal act

I

to ignite

vsto torch

66 4.0

To make something start burning

refers to purposeful starting of fires, often with criminal intent

S

to scorch

vsto torch

31 4.8

To burn something completely so it is destroyed

emphasizes deliberate ignition, often as a criminal or malicious act

B

to burn up

vsto torch

27 3.7

To be completely destroyed by fire

highlights intentional starting of fires rather than the final burned state

I

to incinerate

vsto torch

8 7.4

To burn until it turns to ash

concerns intentional setting of fires, not merely the process of burning away

S

to set ablaze

vsto torch

5 4.8

To make something start burning

involves deliberate ignition, often done maliciously rather than by chance

S

to set afire

vsto torch

2 4.1

Make something start to burn

intentionally starts fires, usually as an illegal or harmful act

S

to set aflame

vsto torch

1 5.1

To make something start burning

focuses on deliberate, often criminal, initiation of burning

S

to set alight

vsto torch

• UK

1 4.2

To make something start burning

means starting fire on purpose, typically as an intentional act

C

to conflagrate

vsto torch

9.9

To set fire to something

implies deliberate ignition, usually with harmful or large scale intent

E

to enkindle

vsto torch

• Archaic

9.1

To make something start to burn, like a fire or a strong feeling

means deliberately setting real fires, typically as a harmful act

Antonyms

E

to extinguish

23 4.4

Stop a fire, candle, or other light from burning

Idioms

C

to carry a torch

• Informal

4 7.7

Have strong feelings of love for someone who does not love you back

P

to pass the torch

4 4.1

Give responsibility for your job to the person who will replace you

Compounds

T

torch song

• Archaic

2 7.0

A sad song about love that is not returned

O

oxyacetylene torch

• Specialized

1 6.7

A torch that makes a very hot flame to cut or join metal using oxygen and acetylene

T

torch singer

• Archaic

1 7.9

A person who sings sad songs about love that is not returned

T

torch race

7.2

A race in which runners pass a lit torch to one another

How Destructive

to incinerate

33 7.1

to torch

76 6.5

to set alight

• UK

1 4.2

to light

905 1.0

Surface Forms

Etymology