Word.ws English Dictionary

scorched-earth

scorched-earth adjective: characterized by a desire to prevail at any cost.

Adjective

scorched-earth (not comparable)

  1. Characterized by a desire to prevail at any cost.
    • The scorched-earth ad campaign directed at her opponent didn't win her many votes.

Forms of scorched-earth

alternative formscorched earth

Origin of scorched-earth

See scorched earth.

Phrases with scorched-earth

Questions about scorched-earth

What does scorched-earth mean?
Scorched-earth means characterized by a desire to prevail at any cost.
What part of speech is scorched-earth?
Scorched-earth is an adjective.

Words near scorched-earth in the dictionary

  1. scorched earth policy
  2. scorched rice
  3. scorched up
  4. scorched wing
  5. scorched wings
  6. scorched-earth
  7. scorched-earth policies
  8. scorched-earth policy
  9. scorchedness
  10. scorcher
  11. scorchers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: scorched-earth (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.

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