scorch
/skɔɹt͡ʃ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.73 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Brown discoloration on the leaves of plants caused by heat, lack of water or by fungi.
Countable; Uncountable
verb
To wither, parch or destroy something by heat or fire, especially to make land or buildings unusable to an enemy
Transitive verb
verb
To move at high speed (so as to leave scorch marks on the ground, physically or figuratively).
Intransitive verb
Example Sentences
- "Lashed by mad rage, and scorched by brutal fires."
- "Men on cycles, lean-faced, unkempt, scorched along every country lane, shouting of unhoped deliverance, shouting to gaunt, staring figures of despair."
- "England delivered an impressive statement of intent in the Rugby World Cup opener by scorching to a 69-7 victory against the United States in front of a record crowd of 42,723 in Sunderland."
- "Power was given unto him to scorch men with fire."
- "the fire that scorches me to death"
- "I may not scorch on thee again—thou'rt pinched, my silent steed!"
Etymology
From Middle English scorchen, scorcnen (“to make dry; parch”), perhaps an alteration of earlier *scorpnen, from Old Norse skorpna (“to shrivel up”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: scorchen, skorpna
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /skɔɹt͡ʃ/
- British English: /skɔːtʃ/