Word.ws English Dictionary

searing

/ˈsɪəɹɪŋ/

searing adjective: very hot; blistering or boiling. Also the present participle and gerund of sear.

Adjective

searing

  1. very hot; blistering or boiling
    • Another source of discontent with the Phase I stock has been obviated by relocation of the interior heating elements and the introduction of thermostatic control; this has eradicated the searing blasts of hot air passengers used to feel about their calves [...].1961 February, “Talking of Trains: Phase II units in service”, in Trains Illustrated, page 69
  2. having a sensation of intense sudden heat
  3. (figuratively) unbearably intense or emotionally powerful
    • O! yearning heart! I did inherit
      Thy withering portion with the fame,
      The searing glory which hath shone
      Amid the jewels of my throne,
      Halo of Hell!1829, Edgar Allan Poe, “Tamerlane”, in Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems
  4. damning; critical; scathing

Noun

searing (plural searings)

  1. action of the verb to sear
    • he was raw with the searings of the fire1950, Mervyn Peake, Gormenghast, London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, →OCLC
    • It was the time of new searings of black identity deep within the psyche of the black community.1970 August, Ebony, volume 25, number 10, page 156
  2. cooking food quickly at high temperature

Proper noun capitalized: Searing

Searing (plural Searings)

  1. A surname.

Also used as

searing is also the present participle and gerund of sear.

Examples of searing in a sentence

  • The searing heat cooled somewhat as the sun set in the evening.
  • The Tarim mummies, found in present-day China, were anhydrated naturally by searing desert conditions.
  • The high heat of it, however, is best suited to searing food over glowing coals.

All 18 example sentences with searing

Forms of searing

Noun
pluralsearings
Proper noun
pluralSearings

Words formed from searing

Words that rhyme with searing

10 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about searing

What does searing mean?
Searing means very hot; blistering or boiling.
What part of speech is searing?
Searing can be an adjective, a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce searing?
Searing is pronounced /ˈsɪəɹɪŋ/ (UK).

Words near searing in the dictionary

  1. seargent
  2. seargents
  3. searges
  4. Searight
  5. Searights
  6. searing
  7. searing hot
  8. searing-iron
  9. searing-irons
  10. searingly
  11. searings

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: searing (page history and authors); Searing (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Eleanorrrrrrrrrr-searing.wav.

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