1
as in flaming
being on fire
a firefighter must be that rare soul who rushes into a burning house, not away from it
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in boiling
having a notably high temperature
a burning sauna seems like a welcome retreat after a day of shoveling snow
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3
as in warm
having or expressing great depth of feeling
the burning enthusiasm of that candidate's campaign workers
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4
as in urgent
needing immediate attention
once again the media ignored the burning issues and focused on fluff
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in glowing
to be on fire especially brightly
all evening long we just sat there, contentedly watching the Yule log burn
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2
as in scorching
to set (something) on fire
it is not a good idea to try to burn old papers in the sink
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in steaming
to be excited or emotionally stirred up with anger
he came home burning with anger because of a reprimand at work
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4
as in blazing
to shine with a bright harsh light
the bright streetlight outside our motel room burned all night long
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5
as in tricking
to cause to believe what is untrue
he's been burned before, so he's careful to double-check such claims now
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6
as in consuming
to make complete use of
heedlessly burning the country's resources without any concern for future generations
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of burning
Phil Blair, San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 June 2025
Tom Cruise has been awarded the Guinness World Record for most burning parachute jumps by an individual, netting a whopping 16 flaming jumps while filming Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.
—Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 5 June 2025
Melissa Sierra, Forbes.com, 8 Sep. 2025
Trump has repeatedly floated a ban on burning flags, including during his 2024 presidential campaign after protesters in Washington burned an American flag and caught the ire of his Democratic rival at the time, former Vice President Kamala Harris.
—Kathryn Palmer, USA Today, 26 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for burning
Adjective
As in most burning issues, there is no absolutely right or wrong answer.
—Phil Blair, San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 June 2025
Tom Cruise has been awarded the Guinness World Record for most burning parachute jumps by an individual, netting a whopping 16 flaming jumps while filming Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.
—Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 5 June 2025
Verb
Trying to keep everyone else's fires burning minimizes your capacity to remain focused on your lane, where your most significant influence and innovation reside.
—Melissa Sierra, Forbes.com, 8 Sep. 2025
Trump has repeatedly floated a ban on burning flags, including during his 2024 presidential campaign after protesters in Washington burned an American flag and caught the ire of his Democratic rival at the time, former Vice President Kamala Harris.
—Kathryn Palmer, USA Today, 26 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for burning
Recent Examples of Synonyms for burning
Adjective
-
Competition, passive-aggressive zingers and hard feelings turn their relationship into a flaming hot mess.—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
26 Aug. 2025
-
Firemen spoke of seeing tenants sitting outside flaming buildings with their belongings neatly arranged beside them.—
Daniel Immerwahr,
New Yorker,
18 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
Agrawal and her team studied ionic liquids — salts that are liquid at sub-boiling temperatures (below 212 degrees Fahrenheit, or 100 degrees Celsius) — as a potential hospitable environment for life.—
Stefanie Waldek,
Space.com,
13 Aug. 2025
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One idea is that about a million years after the Big Bang, the universe cooled and underwent a phase transition, an event similar to how boiling water turns liquid into gas.—
Yasemin Saplakoglu,
Scientific American,
3 Mar. 2020
Adjective
-
The movie was roundly rejected by critics and general audiences aren’t any warmer, with moviegoer survey firm Cinema Score polling a bad C- grade among early viewers.—
J. Kim Murphy,
Variety,
20 Sep. 2025
-
The pastel colorway, which also includes a warm blue and a mushroom hue bestows a sort of quiet luxury to your chamber.—
Yelena Moroz Alpert,
Architectural Digest,
20 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Poland has said that Russian drones attempted to violate its airspace again, only days after another encroachment prompted Warsaw to call on NATO to hold urgent security talks.—
Brendan Cole,
MSNBC Newsweek,
18 Sep. 2025
-
The need that fluoridated water was meant to address, critics say, isn’t as urgent.—
Anna Clark,
ProPublica,
18 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
Inside, the minimalist lobby doubles as a gallery, and the in-house restaurant, The Hive, is dripping with sculptures of glowing honeycombs, kudzu vines, and swarms of bees.—
Lisa Cericola,
Southern Living,
15 Sep. 2025
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The mural, which took nearly three years to complete, features glowing, starry skies punctuated by larger-than-life characters and magical landscapes that don’t exist in our realm.—
Devorah Lev-Tov,
AFAR Media,
15 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
The resulting scorching ash cloud reached as high as 16 miles into the atmosphere, darkening the sky and causing homes and businesses as far as 300 miles away to close.—
Doyle Rice,
USA Today,
16 Sep. 2025
-
A’ja Wilson, incumbent MVP and leader of scorching Las Vegas, seeks the award for the fourth time in her career.—
Steven Louis Goldstein,
New York Times,
14 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
Needless to say, fans are steaming.—
Paul Tassi,
Forbes.com,
13 Sep. 2025
-
At the other end, the Premier League is steaming beyond its peers; a super league in all but name.—
James McNicholas,
New York Times,
8 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
Many headlines in the blazing world of AI often tell a story of fatigue.—
Kolawole Samuel Adebayo,
Forbes.com,
17 Sep. 2025
-
No blazing new initiatives at this point.—
Ryan Oehrli,
Charlotte Observer,
17 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Burning.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/burning. Accessed 22 Sep. 2025.
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