Word a Day
scorch
What does scorch mean?
scorch (verb): to burn the surface of something so as to discolor it.
Definition: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
How do you use scorch in a sentence?
- The exposed tree scorched in the hot sun. (Princeton WordNet 3.1)
How do you pronounce scorch?
/skɔɹtʃ/ (IPA, American English). The app reads every word aloud.
Where does scorch come from?
From Middle English scorchen, scorcnen (“to make dry; parch”), perhaps an alteration of earlier *scorpnen, from Old Norse skorpna (“to shrivel up”).
Etymology: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Test yourself: do you know “scorch”?
Tap an answer to check it. The same questions the app asks.
What does “scorch” mean?
to guide the course of a vessel, vehicle, aircraft etc
Not quite: that's what steer means.
remove the edges from and cut down to the desired size
Not quite: that's what trim means.
to persuade someone not to do something; to discourage
Not quite: that's what deter means.
to burn the surface of something so as to discolor it
Right! That's what “scorch” means.
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