sear
/sɪɹ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.71 in modern English
4
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Dry; withered, especially of vegetation.
name
A surname.
Example Sentences
- "There are in all but three vvayes of going thither [to the moon]. […] [The] third, Old Empedocles vvay; vvho vvhen he leaped into Ætna, having a drie ſeare bodie, and light, the ſmoake took him and vvhift him up into the Moone, vvhere he lives yet vvaving up and dovvne like a feather, all foot and embers comming out of that cole-pit; our Poet met him, and talkt vvith him."
- "The autumn winds rushing / Waft the leaves that are searest, / But our flower was in flushing, / When blighting was nearest."
- "He likes to sear his steaks while maintaining rareness at the center."
- "I will sear the skin from your flesh. You will die a thousand deaths!"
- "When you drop the tuna onto the pan, the outside will sear and cook quickly while leaving as much of the center as possible in its raw state."
- "I often will sear steaks, move them to a cooler side, then use the hot side to grill or sauté vegetables, make a sauce in a cast-iron skillet, or grill some fruit for dessert while the steak finishes."
Etymology
From Middle English sere, seer, seere, from Old English sēar, sīere (“dry, sere, sear, withered, barren”), from Proto-West Germanic *sauʀ(ī), from Proto-Germanic *sauzaz (“dry”), from Proto-Indo-European *sh₂ews- (“dry, parched”) (also reconstructed as *h₂sews-). Cognate with Dutch zoor (“dry, rough”), Low German soor (“dry”), German sohr (“parched, dried up”), dialectal Norwegian søyr (“the desiccation and death of a tree”), Lithuanian saũsas (“dry”), Ukrainian сухий (suxyj, “dry”), Polish suchy (“dry”), Homeric Ancient Greek αὖος (aûos, “dry”). Doublet of sere and sare.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /sɪɹ/
- British English: /sɪə̯(ɹ)/
Usage
Inflected Forms
searer (comparative)
more sear (comparative)
searest (superlative)
most sear (superlative)
sere (alternative)
sare (alternative)
sears (present, singular)
searing (participle, present)
seared (participle, past)
seared (past)
sears (plural)