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white-hot

white-hot

3 5.3
Heated until it glows white
  • adjective
  • /ˈwaɪtˌhɑt/
translation icon : blanco incandescente
  • The metal glowed white-hot as it was heated in the forge, ready to be shaped into a sword.
  • white-hot glow
  • white-hot flame
  • white-hot sun

It'll still glow, but now it's going to glow white hot and then glow blue hot.

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Examples

  • For a split second, out of the corner of his eye, Vesquith saw the rock grow white hot.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • The coals still glared white-hot in the middle of the old cast-iron monster.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • You can heat this wire to white-hot, and it will still tell you the exact same story.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • The sun was directly overhead, white-hot and burning.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • In its center, the sun lies, a bright, white-hot ball pulsing toward the full noon.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • "There goes that hatch." Greg followed her look, watching as white-hot metal flared away on all sides of the hatch.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • I looked up at the prairie sun, glowing like a white-hot marble in the sky.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • The interior of the synagogue was a white-hot furnace; tiles of the roof glowed from the heat that devoured the rafters.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • As the stars burned brightly, the supernova shone with a white-hot brilliance that lit up the entire galaxy.

  • Under the intense pressure, the coal transformed into a white-hot mass, burning fiercely in the furnace.

Synonyms

white
vswhite-hot
118 2.3

Very hot and glowing with a bright pale color

is the same idea but expressed as a compound adjective with a hyphen
incandescent
vswhite-hot
  • Specialized
8 6.7

Giving off light because it is very hot

focuses on a very pale bright glow rather than a general heat glow
red-hot
vswhite-hot
6 4.1

So warm it glows red

highlights a very pale bright shine instead of a warm colored glow
candescent
vswhite-hot
  • Literature
9.9

Glowing because it is very hot, like metal or coals

emphasizes a very pale bright glow rather than general heated shining

Antonyms

131 1.0

The feeling of low temperature on your body

How Hot

white-hot
3 5.3
scorching
3.7
red-hot
6 4.1
hot
1.0
warm
1.0
cool
608 1.0

Surface Forms

white-hot positive

Morphology

white-hot = white + hot (transparent) = white + hot

Literal compound of 'white' + 'hot' describing a very high temperature that causes a white glow, which is directly inferable from the parts.

Etymology

White-hot began as a simple picture: metal so hot it glows white in a fire. The parts white ('the color of the glow') and hot ('very high heat') show this clearly, so white-hot means heated until it shines with a white light.