Synonyms of burning

burning 1 of 2

adjective

ˈbər-niŋ 

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

• flaming
• blazing
• burnt
• flickering
• smoldering
• burned
• lighted
• lit
• ignited
• aflame
• inflamed
• enflamed
• afire
• fiery
• charred
• kindled
• glowing
• alight
• combusting
• ablaze
• smouldering
• conflagrant
• searing
• flaring
• scorching
• live
• hot
• scorched
• roasting
• aglow
• broiling
• seared
• sizzling
• scalding
• singed
• red-hot
• piping hot
• incinerated

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• dead
• extinguished
• smothered
• choked
• stamped (out)
• quenched
• damped
• snuffed (out)
• suffocated
• doused
• dowsed

2

as in boiling

having a notably high temperature

a burning sauna seems like a welcome retreat after a day of shoveling snow

Synonyms & Similar Words

• boiling
• searing
• hot
• molten
• scorching
• red
• roasting
• broiling
• white-hot
• heated
• sweltering
• warmed
• fiery
• scalding
• blazing
• warm
• fervent
• superheated
• red-hot
• fervid
• torrid
• ardent
• piping hot
• sultry
• glowing
• seething
• ultrahot
• sizzling
• igneous
• overheated
• inflamed
• flushed
• tropical
• toasty
• feverish
• enflamed
• reheated
• steamy
• warmish
• snug
• muggy
• summery
• canicular
• summerlike

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• freezing
• cold
• frozen
• icy
• arctic
• glacial
• iced
• bitter
• frigid
• ice-cold
• cool
• chilly
• chill
• snowy
• snappy
• nippy
• frosty
• cooled
• wintry
• algid
• subzero
• bone-chilling
• shivering
• wintery
• coldish
• unheated
• chilled
• coolish
• refrigerated
• subfreezing
• numb
• benumbed
• blizzardly

3

as in warm

having or expressing great depth of feeling

the burning enthusiasm of that candidate's campaign workers

Synonyms & Similar Words

• warm
• passionate
• passional
• fervent
• intense
• charged
• emotional
• glowing
• flaming
• blazing
• fiery
• religious
• ardent
• incandescent
• demonstrative
• enthusiastic
• impassioned
• feverish
• superheated
• fervid
• torrid
• perfervid
• red-hot
• vehement
• on fire
• warm-blooded
• hot-blooded
• sentimental
• sugary
• sloppy
• zealous
• mushy
• mawkish
• saccharine
• obsessed
• gushy
• melodramatic
• histrionic
• sappy
• gushing
• gung ho
• uninhibited
• infatuated
• keen
• maudlin
• schmaltzy
• orgiastic
• enamored
• unrestrained
• frenzied
• unreserved
• overheated
• overexcited
• overemotional

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• cold
• cool
• dry
• dispassionate
• impassive
• objective
• detached
• impersonal
• unemotional
• emotionless
• reserved
• undemonstrative

4

as in urgent

needing immediate attention

once again the media ignored the burning issues and focused on fluff

Synonyms & Similar Words

• urgent
• acute
• pressing
• crying
• intense
• critical
• emergent
• compelling
• dire
• desperate
• instant
• imperative
• serious
• immediate
• importunate
• exigent
• overriding
• clamant
• extreme
• imperious
• insistent
• demanding
• dangerous
• hazardous
• crucial
• explosive
• severe
• necessitous
• grave
• life-and-death
• vital
• unstable
• life-or-death
• perilous
• precarious

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• minor
• incidental
• negligible
• trivial
• unimportant
• safe
• low-pressure
• stable
• noncritical
• nonurgent
• nonthreatening

burning

2 of 2

verb

present participle of burn

1

as in glowing

to be on fire especially brightly

all evening long we just sat there, contentedly watching the Yule log burn

Synonyms & Similar Words

• glowing
• blazing
• flaming
• flickering
• firing
• smoldering
• shining
• gleaming
• combusting
• igniting
• melting
• kindling
• scorching
• cooking
• going up in flames
• smouldering
• roasting
• baking
• charring
• broiling
• wavering
• flashing
• glinting
• lighting (up)
• enkindling
• sweltering
• catching
• radiating
• deflagrating
• sputtering
• sparking
• glittering
• glistening
• flaring (up)
• shimmering
• beating (down)
• brightening
• glaring
• glimmering
• beaming
• sparkling
• guttering
• twinkling
• scintillating

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

• scorching
• igniting
• torching
• kindling
• lighting
• firing
• inflaming
• enflaming
• baking
• illumining
• enkindling
• cooking
• illuminating
• charring
• incinerating
• broiling
• immolating
• lightening
• searing
• cremating
• stoking
• ashing
• brightening
• setting off
• radiating
• deflagrating
• rekindling
• irradiating
• scalding
• relighting
• frizzling
• scathing
• kilning
• banking
• reigniting

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• extinguishing
• quenching
• choking
• putting out
• suffocating
• smothering
• dousing
• darkening
• stamping (out)
• dowsing
• snuffing (out)
• obscuring
• blackening
• dimming
• dulling

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

Synonyms & Similar Words

• steaming
• raging
• boiling
• storming
• shaking
• foaming
• seething
• fuming
• sizzling
• smouldering
• rankling
• smoldering
• seeing red
• agitating
• fulminating
• ranting
• raving
• enflaming
• inflaming
• bristling
• convulsing
• stewing
• flaring (up)
• chafing
• roiling
• fretting

4

as in blazing

to shine with a bright harsh light

the bright streetlight outside our motel room burned all night long

Synonyms & Similar Words

• glowing
• blazing
• flaring
• glaring
• flashing
• flaming
• gleaming
• beating
• glancing
• radiating
• glinting
• glistening
• sparkling
• glittering
• beaming
• shimmering
• twinkling
• glimmering
• blinding
• scintillating
• glistering
• dazzling
• bedazzling
• dazing

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

Synonyms & Similar Words

• tricking
• deceiving
• fooling
• stinging
• kidding
• teasing
• juggling
• misleading
• catching
• suckering
• duping
• misguiding
• deluding
• gaffing
• humbugging
• sucking in
• cheating
• gammoning
• having
• stringing along
• gulling
• hoaxing
• misinforming
• taking in
• conning
• cozening
• snowing
• bluffing
• snookering
• hoodwinking
• bamboozling
• having on
• spoofing
• beguiling
• hornswoggling
• buffaloing
• faking out
• sticking
• pulling one's leg
• doing a number on
• bleeding
• pulling the wool over one's eyes
• leading one up the garden path
• leading one down the garden path
• putting on
• chiselling
• defrauding
• swindling
• fleecing
• chiseling
• hustling
• squeezing
• mulcting
• shortchanging
• rooking
• diddling
• skinning
• euchring
• flimflamming

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• exposing
• uncovering
• revealing
• debunking
• disclosing
• telling
• showing up
• undeceiving
• unmasking
• divulging
• unveiling
• uncloaking
• disillusioning
• disabusing
• disenchanting

6

as in consuming

to make complete use of

heedlessly burning the country's resources without any concern for future generations

Synonyms & Similar Words

• consuming
• spending
• draining
• exhausting
• reducing
• absorbing
• depleting
• eating
• using
• devouring
• emptying
• expending
• playing out
• decreasing
• drawing down
• running out of
• wasting
• using up
• diminishing
• lowering
• weakening
• dwindling
• downsizing
• undermining
• lessening
• blowing
• crippling
• bankrupting
• cleaning (out)
• sapping
• impoverishing
• disabling
• debilitating
• enfeebling
• abating
• dissipating
• drying up
• guzzling
• squandering
• de-escalating
• throwing away
• running through
• lavishing
• frittering (away)
• misspending

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• increasing
• replacing
• renewing
• enlarging
• augmenting
• enforcing
• reinforcing
• strengthening
• repairing
• rebuilding
• restoring
• preserving
• reviving
• saving
• conserving
• bolstering
• reenforcing
• fortifying

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of burning

Adjective

For answers to more burning questions about Season 2, plus Season 3 clues (including which Season 1 character will be coming back), read Deadline’s interview with The Night Agent showrunner Shawn Ryan. —Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 24 Jan. 2025

At private equity firm TPG, global head of human resources Anna Edwin poised one of the most burning questions for business leaders in thinking through their future talent strategies. —Ryan Hogg, Fortune, 15 Oct. 2024

Verb

As some steelmakers are beginning to embrace cleaner technology, climate and clean air advocates say Nippon's plan would have slowed the transition to greener steel by extending the life of dirty, old coal-burning furnaces. —Dan Perry, Newsweek, 3 Jan. 2025

Advertisement The burning ban stems from Senate Bill 705, legislation signed in 2003 that aimed to phase out agricultural burning in the San Joaquin Valley by 2010. —Rebecca Plevin, Los Angeles Times, 3 Jan. 2025