Word.ws English Dictionary

red-hot

red-hot adjective: heated to the point that it glows with a visible red color. Also the alternative spelling of red hot.

Adjective

red-hot (comparative more red-hot, superlative most red-hot)

  1. Heated to the point that it glows with a visible red color.
    • The smith's apprentice was still wary of manipulating the red-hot metal.
    • The Iron of it ſelfe, though heate red hot, / Approaching neere theſe eyes, would drinke my teares, / And quench this fierie indignation, / Euen in the matter of mine innocence.c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
  2. (excessive) Very hot.
    • That curry was red-hot.
  3. (informal) Emotionally charged, especially with anger or enthusiasm.
    • He really delivered a red-hot speech today.
  4. (informal) Having very strong sex appeal.
    • Did you see that red-hot bikini model in today's paper?
  5. (informal) Very fresh, exciting, and up-to-date.
    • Tune in at ten to catch this red-hot story!
    • She sits at the intersection of start-up investing and the fast-growing ecosystem of online creators, both of which are red hot.2021 September 1, Taylor Lorenz, “She’s the Investor Guru for Online Creators”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

Also used as

red-hot is also the alternative spelling of red hot.

Examples of red-hot in a sentence

  • [A] red-hot poker will burn you if you hold it too long; […]1865 November (indicated as 1866), Lewis Carroll [pseudonym; Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], “Down the Rabbit-Hole”, in Alice’s Adventures in...
  • The cat-heads had burned away, and the two red-hot anchors had gone to the bottom, tearing out after them two hundred fathom of red-hot chain.1898 September, Joseph Conrad, “Youth: a Narrative”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXIV, number DCCCCXCV, New York, N.Y.: The...

Synonyms of red-hot

Forms of red-hot

Adjective
comparativemore red-hot
superlativemost red-hot
alternative formred hot
alternative formredhot
Noun
pluralred-hots

Words formed from red-hot

Phrases with red-hot

Words that rhyme with red-hot

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about red-hot

What does red-hot mean?
Red-hot means heated to the point that it glows with a visible red color.
How do you use red-hot in a sentence?
[A] red-hot poker will burn you if you hold it too long; […]
What part of speech is red-hot?
Red-hot is an adjective.

Words near red-hot in the dictionary

  1. red-headed stepchildren
  2. red-headed vulture
  3. red-headed vultures
  4. red-headed woodpecker
  5. red-headed woodpeckers
  6. red-hot
  7. red-hot minute
  8. red-hot minutes
  9. red-hot poker
  10. red-hot pokers
  11. red-hots

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: red-hot (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-red-hot.wav.

Cite this entry: “red-hot.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/red-hot. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.