burn up
phrasal verb
burned up or burnt up; burning up; burns up
: to be destroyed or cause (something) to be destroyed by fire
Most asteroids burn up upon entering the Earth's atmosphere.
Wildfires have been raging across the region burning up acres of forest.
Do we still need these old receipts? No, burn them up.
Examples of burn up in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
In an instant, our shaky courtroom sketch of Pearl the flighty young mother, Pearl the drunk, gets burned up and eclipsed by Pearl the mystic.
—
Literary Hub, 10 Feb. 2026
This vacuum was meant to prevent the tungsten filament––that’s the little wire inside the bulb, the thing that glows––from burning up and disintegrating immediately, which is what a very hot piece of metal would do in the presence of oxygen.
—Natalia Sánchez Loayza, Scientific American, 5 Feb. 2026
When the temperature rises to more than single digits, the Earth might burn up!
—Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 4 Feb. 2026
As part of that, ESA scientists are studying what happens when satellites burn up.
—Leonard David, Space.com, 31 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for burn up
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Literary Hub, 10 Feb. 2026
This vacuum was meant to prevent the tungsten filament––that’s the little wire inside the bulb, the thing that glows––from burning up and disintegrating immediately, which is what a very hot piece of metal would do in the presence of oxygen.
—Natalia Sánchez Loayza, Scientific American, 5 Feb. 2026
When the temperature rises to more than single digits, the Earth might burn up!
—Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 4 Feb. 2026
As part of that, ESA scientists are studying what happens when satellites burn up.
—Leonard David, Space.com, 31 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for burn up
Cite this Entry
“Burn up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/burn%20up. Accessed 14 Feb. 2026.
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