English Reference
adjective · noun

burning

adj. · n.
US /ˈbɝnɪŋ/ UK /bˈɜːnɪŋ/ burn·ing UK spelling burnings

  1. 01 A2 Elementary

    adj.on fire or being destroyed by flames.

    adj.undergoing combustion; being consumed by fire.

    Simple

    The smell of burning wood filled the air as they sat by the campfire.

    In context

    Firefighters worked through the night to prevent the burning debris from collapsing onto the neighbouring residential structures.

  2. 02 B1 Intermediate

    adj.feeling very hot, often in a painful way.

    adj.producing or characterised by a sensation of intense heat.

    Simple

    He had a burning fever and needed to stay in bed all day.

    In context

    The athlete felt a burning sensation in her lungs as she pushed through the final hundred metres of the steep uphill climb.

  3. 03 B2 Upper Intermediate

    adj.describing a very strong feeling or a question that needs an answer right away.

    adj.characterised by intense passion, urgency, or importance; often used to describe desires or topical issues.

    Simple

    She had a burning desire to travel the world after she finished school.

    In context

    The committee addressed the burning issue of housing affordability, which had dominated local political discourse for several months.

  4. 04 B1 Intermediate

    n.the process of something being on fire or being hurt by fire.

    n.the physical process of combustion or the resulting injury or damage caused by exposure to fire or heat.

    Simple

    The controlled burning of the fields helps the new grass grow better.

    In context

    The accidental burning of the historical archives resulted in the irreparable loss of several eighteenth-century manuscripts.

  5. 05 C1 Advanced Technical Computing

    n.the act of permanently removing digital coins from circulation to increase their value.

    n.the process of sending cryptocurrency tokens to an unusable address to permanently remove them from the circulating supply.

    Simple

    The company announced a burning of one million tokens to help stabilize the price.

    In context

    By implementing a regular burning mechanism, the developers aimed to create deflationary pressure on the asset's total market supply.

    token burn
    minting

Usage burning of fossil


By surface analysis, burn + -ing.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This entry
Level B1 · Intermediate
Frequency Common
Updated