Scorching

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Very high in temperature, causing burning or intense heat ; extremely intense or harsh in severity or effect
2. Marked by fierce heat that feels like burning ; characterized by a strong, damaging intensity or bitterness
3. Producing strong heat that can burn or damage ; delivering an intense and often relentless force or criticism

Etymology: "Scorching" is the present participle of "scorch," which is used here as an adjective. The verb comes from Middle English "scorchen" and "scorcnen," meaning "to make dry" or "parch," and it may be an altered form of an earlier verb that drew on Old Norse "skorpna," meaning "to shrivel up." The sense of the Old Norse root is telling: the original idea was less about flame and more about drying out and withering, so a scorching thing was first a thing that had been made dry and brittle. Burning heat came to dominate the word over time, and the adjective now describes intense heat, whether from the sun, a fire, or a stove. The shrinking and drying sense survives mainly in the way leaves or grass can be described as scorched, showing the older meaning of dryness still lurking beneath the modern sense of fire.

Synonyms: blazing, burning, searing, sweltering, fiery

Antonyms: cool, cold, chilly, freezing, moderate