List of 426 Sets of Synonyms - How they Differ - Total of 2307 Words - 59

SYNONYMS: burn, scorch, singe, sear, char, parch.
These verbs mean to injure or alter by means of intense heat or flames.

Burn, the most general, applies to the effects of exposure to a source of heat or to something that can produce a similar effect: burned the rug with a cigarette; left the onions on the stove and burned them; burned my fingers by handling dry ice.
Scorch usually refers to contact with flame or heated metal and involves superficial burning that discolors or damages the texture of something: afraid that the iron might scorch the sheet; trees that were scorched in a forest fire.
Singe specifies superficial burning by brief exposure to flame and especially the deliberate removal of projections such as bristles or feathers from a carcass, such as a plucked fowl, before cooking: a fire that singed my eyelashes; singed the Thanksgiving turkey, then roasted it.
Sear applies to surface burning of organic tissue, as by branding or cauterizing: Sear the lamb over high heat before cooking.
To char is most often to reduce a substance to carbon or charcoal by means of fire: The timbers of the house were charred by the raging fire.
Parch in this sense emphasizes the drying and often fissuring of a surface from exposure to flame, the sun, or hot wind: The rays of the sun parched the soil.