Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

burn up

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.52 in modern English

Syllables: burn up
IPA

10

Scrabble Score

6

Letters

1

Syllables

5

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To catch fire and burn until destroyed.

Intransitive verb

verb

To destroy by burning.

Transitive verb

verb

To anger; to annoy.

Transitive verb

verb

To be angry or annoyed.

Intransitive verb

verb

To be or feel overly hot or inflamed.

Intransitive verb

verb

To be or feel overly hot or inflamed.

Intransitive verb

verb

To ride a motorcycle or other vehicle at high speed.

Dated

verb

To use up too much energy when first bowled and to therefore not finishing strongly.

Intransitive verb

Example Sentences

"Near-synonyms: go up in smoke; see also Thesaurus:catch fire"
"The rocket may burn up on reentry."
"Before daylight, when the dragon flew home to sleep, he had burned up the hall and even the throne of the Geatish king."
"Near-synonyms: incense; see also Thesaurus:enrage, Thesaurus:annoy"
"His thoughtlessness really burns me up."
"One morning […] we stood around the office talking and laughing, having a good time, when one man, Tim, made a job ^([sic]) about "fags." Right then we had to leave, and soon we were warming up our cars on the street. Naturally I was burning up about the comment, and decided to do something about it, though even as I got out of my car to walk up to Tim's, I wasn't sure what."

Etymology

From burn + up. Compare Middle English upbrennynge, upbrennende (“burning up”, present participle), German Low German upbrannen (“to burn up”).

Usage

Inflected Forms

burns up (present, singular) burning up (participle, present) burned up (participle, past) burned up (past) burnt up (participle, past) burnt up (past)

Frequently Paired Words

burn away burn down burn off fire up light up burn burn up burn to a crisp

Synonyms

go up in smoke catch fire catch on fire combust conflagrate fire go up in flames ignite light spunk take fire incense

Questions

What does burn up mean?: To catch fire and burn until destroyed.
Where does burn up come from?: From burn + up. Compare Middle English upbrennynge, upbrennende (“burning up”, present participle), German Low German upbrannen (“to burn up”).

How to pronounce burn up

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “burn up”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
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