1. (

• sear ,
• scorch ,

) make very hot and dry; "The heat scorched the countryside" ;

2. (

• scorch ,
• sear ,
• singe ,

) become superficially burned; "my eyebrows singed when I bent over the flames" ;

3. (

• scorch ,

) destroy completely by or as if by fire; "The wildfire scorched the forest and several homes"; "the invaders scorched the land" ;

4. (

• char ,
• blacken ,
• sear ,
• scorch ,

) burn slightly and superficially so as to affect color; "The cook blackened the chicken breast"; "The fire charred the ceiling above the mantelpiece"; "the flames scorched the ceiling" ;

5. (

• scorch ,

) become scorched or singed under intense heat or dry conditions; "The exposed tree scorched in the hot sun" ;

1. (

• adust ,
• baked ,
• parched ,
• scorched ,
• sunbaked

) dried out by heat or excessive exposure to sunlight; "a vast desert all adust"; "land lying baked in the heat"; "parched soil"; "the earth was scorched and bare"; "sunbaked salt flats" ;

2. (

• scorched

) having everything destroyed so nothing is left salvageable by an enemy; "Sherman's scorched earth policy" ;