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burn

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noun

British

burn (up)

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verb (2)

burnable

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adjective

as in combustible
capable of catching or being set on fire don't put something so burnable as a towel next to the stove

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of burn
Verb
Such interactions can light a fuse that may burn throughout a school year, only to erupt when students arrive for a new semester driving their parents’ car. Courtland Milloy, Washington Post, 12 Sep. 2023 William Lucas, 8, survived after Tonya Lucas’ boyfriend at the time rescued him from the burning home. Alex Mann, Baltimore Sun, 12 Sep. 2023
Noun
The most significant of these include the company’s high dependence on a few customers, a large inventory of an older generation of AI chips for rent, and high cash burn rate and rising debt. Peter Cohan, Forbes.com, 27 Mar. 2025 The truth was somewhere in the middle: No, Kid Nation was never officially charged with violating child labor laws, but one kid did accidentally drink bleach — and another sustained a minor burn while cooking. Kristen Baldwin, EW.com, 20 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for burn
Recent Examples of Synonyms for burn
Noun
  • The mass-participation ball game involves two teams, whose players are decided according to which side of the town's small brook they were born on.
    Alan Taylor, The Atlantic, 7 Mar. 2025
  • These graves were on the south side of the brook that divides the site, and on the north side archaeologists found three more sets of remains that had been dispersed, begging the question of why there would be two different kinds of burials from the same time periods in different areas of the site.
    Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 5 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • This week, the underarm serve ended a match and started some discourse, a remarkable winning streak snapped with a side of on-court drama and one of the most combustible players on the ATP Tour met his match.
    Charlie Eccleshare, The Athletic, 24 Mar. 2025
  • If there’s anything combustible there — a kid’s play set, shrubbery, a grill, vehicles — make sure there is space around each item so that fire can’t move from one to the next.
    Ron Lieber, New York Times, 19 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • Or Frank Lloyd Wright, with his long, often low-slung homes of concrete and red tidewater cypress, designed to harmonize with their surroundings (Fallingwater, one of his most famous works, is perched over a creek in a quiet glade outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania).
    Nick Remsen, CNN Money, 7 Apr. 2025
  • Those who hike the trail have the opportunity to summit Mount Washington, the tallest peak in the northeast, walk along a peaceful creek, or follow in the footsteps of history where the trail becomes part of the towpath for the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.
    Dan Perry, Newsweek, 1 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • After nine intense episodes of watching the Maguire doctors battle leadership shakeups, life-or-death emergencies and an actual hurricane, the finale is just as explosive.
    Emily Blackwood, People.com, 5 Apr. 2025
  • Blue Owl has been downright explosive over the past half-decade or so, driving its top line from around $190 million in 2019 to $2.3 billion last year.
    Brett Owens, Forbes.com, 5 Apr. 2025
Noun
  • Now, the lawmakers’ asks are in: the proposition needs a funding stream that some characterize as enormous and others say is miniscule to work as advertised.
    Kate Wolffe, Sacbee.com, 7 Apr. 2025
  • Some astronomers believe that there might be a sparse stream of meteoroids which Earth might encounter during the final week of April.
    Joe Rao, Space.com, 6 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • But manufacturer issues, misuse and aging can heighten the risk from the batteries, which use flammable materials, potentially posing a fire danger on flights.
    Kathleen Magramo, CNN Money, 26 Mar. 2025
  • Solid state and made without flammable materials, the little nuclear batteries might be safer than lithium-ion batteries, which are prone to thermal runaway, venting, and explosion.
    Joe Salas, New Atlas, 26 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • And all this against an inflammable backdrop of geopolitical crises including but not limited to the Israel-Hamas war and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
    John Leicester, Quartz, 15 Apr. 2024
  • Heat also stresses old electrical systems — insulation breaks down; lubricants in relays dry out — and a not-insignificant amount of the subway’s electrical wiring dates to the 1920s and 1930s, some of it cloth-covered, inflammable, and pervious to water.
    Curbed, Curbed, 28 July 2023

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Cite this Entry

“Burn.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/burn. Accessed 12 Apr. 2025.

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