2
a
: affecting with or as if with heat
a burning fever
b
: resembling that produced by a burn
a burning sensation on the tongue
3
: of fundamental importance : urgent
one of the burning issues of our time
Examples of burning in a Sentence
She stared at the burning embers for a long time.
a burning hatred of corruption
The medicine produced a burning sensation on my tongue.
Symptoms include itchy, burning eyes.
Recent Examples on the Web
Equal to Tesfaye’s navel-gazing, Shults uses every trick in the music-video playbook to conjure a vivid, ultra-saturated but not quite realistic universe where the Weeknd is a brightly burning sun everyone revolves around.
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Todd Gilchrist, Variety, 15 May 2025
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Todd Gilchrist, Variety, 15 May 2025
Ben Johnson has a ‘burning desire’ to be a head coach.
—Brad Biggs, Chicago Tribune, 4 Feb. 2025
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
See All Example Sentences for burning
Cite this Entry
“Burning.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/burning. Accessed 29 May. 2025.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
burning
1 of 2 adjective
burn·ing
ˈbər-niŋ 
1
: affecting with or as if with heat
a burning fever
2
: resembling that produced by a burn
a burning sensation on the tongue
burning
2 of 2 noun
: a sensation of being on fire or excessively heated
gastric burning
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