You use burning to describe something that is extremely hot.
...the burning desert of Central Asia.
Synonyms: very hot, boiling, baking, flaming More Synonyms of burning
Burning is also an adverb.
He touched the boy's forehead. It was burning hot.
2. adjective [ADJECTIVE noun]
If you say that someone has burning eyes, you mean they look at you in an intense way or have bright eyes because of a strong feeling.
[literary]
She glared at both of them with burning, reproachful eyes.
Synonyms: flashing, blazing, flaming, gleaming More Synonyms of burning
3. adjective [ADJECTIVE noun]
If you have a burning interest in something or a burning desire to do something, you are extremely interested in it or want to do it very much.
I had a burning ambition to become a journalist.
She had a burning desire to wreak revenge.
Synonyms: intense, passionate, earnest, eager More Synonyms of burning
4. adjective [ADJECTIVE noun]
A burning issue or question is a very important or urgent one that people feel very strongly about.
The burning question is: whose taxes should be raised?
More Synonyms of burning
burning in British English
(ˈbɜːnɪŋ)
adjective
1.
intense; passionate
2.
urgent; crucial
a burning problem
noun
3.
a form of heat treatment used to harden and finish ceramic materials or to prepare certain ores for further treatment by calcination
4.
overheating of an alloy during heat treatment in which local fusion or excessive oxide formation and penetration occur, weakening the alloy
5.
the heat treatment of particular kinds of gemstones to change their colour
Derived forms
burningly (ˈburningly)
adverb
burning in American English
(ˈbɜrnɪŋ)
adjective
1.
that burns
2.
of the utmost seriousness or importance
a burning issue
More idioms containing
burning
someone's ears are burning
Examples of 'burning' in a sentence
burning
And the one burning question left is when is the next series?
The Sun (2016)
There is no smell of burning flesh.
The Sun (2016)
The best panel show on telly bar none answers these and other burning questions in a tremendous festive special.
The Sun (2016)
They've got a burning desire that eats away at them.
The Sun (2017)
We could smell burning wires.
Times, Sunday Times (2017)
A photograph showing him crouched with a gun in the burning building made him a nationalist pin-up.
The Sun (2016)
The main reason so many voted Leave was because of one burning issue - immigration.
The Sun (2016)
Each season it looks lost and each season something stirs inside a dressing room largely detached from the burning desire of the heartbeat of the club's support.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Saved a kitten from a burning building?
The Sun (2013)
The obsessive desire to stop burning coal has overwhelmed common sense.
The Sun (2016)
This man won a medal for rescuing people from a burning plane.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
You just feel the burning eyes and take the bid.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
Land reform is not a burning issue for most of us.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
All this jumpers and goalposts scrabbling belies a club burning with ambition.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
You may not have realised this was one of the burning issues of the day.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
You have to keep the fire burning and this has definitely rekindled our spark.
The Sun (2016)
Or he might just say something about burning cakes.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
On this detour we saw a whole village burning.
Stewart, Bob (Lt-Col) Broken Lives (1993)
You can almost smell burning fuel in your nostrils.
The Sun (2007)
He managed to tug his leg free and escape the burning building.
The Sun (2009)
His endorsement fanned my flickering fantasy into a burning desire.
Christianity Today (2000)
When you push the liquid into your stomach you feel a burning sensation.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
Immigration has again become one of the burning issues.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
Retirement is most definitely on the agenda and it is fuelling his burning ambition to become a manager.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
Derbyshire fire service said that two people from the burning property and another further three residents from neighbouring flats were rescued.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
The burning question of the night.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Hackers in that case launched a virus that erased swathes of data from the company's computers and replaced it with an image of a burning American flag.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
In other languages
burning
British English: burning ADJECTIVE
hot You use burning to describe something that is extremely hot.
...the burning desert of Central Asia.
American English: burning
Brazilian Portuguese: ardente
Chinese: 炙热的
European Spanish: abrasador
French: brûlant
German: glühend heiß
Italian: bruciante
Japanese: 焼けつくような
Korean: 타는 듯한
European Portuguese: ardente
Latin American Spanish: abrasador
British English: burning ADJECTIVE
interest If you have a burning interest in something or a burning desire to do something, you are extremely interested in it or want to do it very much.
I had a burning ambition to become a journalist.
American English: burning
Brazilian Portuguese: intenso
Chinese: 炙热的
European Spanish: ardiente
French: intense
German: brennend
Italian: fortissimo
Japanese: 激しい
Korean: 불타는
European Portuguese: intenso
Latin American Spanish: ardiente
All related terms of 'burning'
burn
If there is a fire or a flame somewhere , you say that there is a fire or flame burning there.
first-degree burn
to undergo or cause to undergo combustion
second-degree burn
to undergo or cause to undergo combustion
third-degree burn
to undergo or cause to undergo combustion
outburn
to burn longer than or brighter than
overburn
to copy (information, music, etc) onto a CD over previously recorded data
oil-burning
that uses paraffin , esp as a domestic fuel
book burning
the destruction of writings of which the subject, the view of the author, or the like is considered politically or socially objectionable : used as a means of censorship or oppression
burning bush
a rutaceous shrub , Dictamnus fraxinella , of S Europe and Asia, whose glands release a volatile inflammable oil that can burn without harming the plant: identified as the bush from which God spoke to Moses ( Exodus 3:2–4)
burning glass
a convex lens for concentrating the sun's rays into a small area to produce heat or fire
burning issue
An issue is an important subject that people are arguing about or discussing.
burning pain
Pain is the feeling of great discomfort you have, for example when you have been hurt or when you are ill .
A desire is a strong wish to do or have something.
burning sensation
A sensation is a physical feeling.
wood-burning stove
A wood-burning stove is the same as a → wood stove .
burn in
to darken (areas on a photographic print) by exposing them to light while masking other regions
burn-up
If something burns up or if fire burns it up , it is completely destroyed by fire or strong heat.
burn off
If someone burns off energy , they use it.
burn out
If a fire burns itself out , it stops burning because there is nothing left to burn .
burn down
If a building burns down or if someone burns it down , it is completely destroyed by fire .
one's ears are burning
one is aware of being the topic of another's conversation
someone's ears are burning
said about someone who other people are talking about
gas plant
an aromatic white-flowered Eurasian rutaceous plant, Dictamnus albus, that emits a vapour capable of being ignited
kochia
any plant of the widely distributed annual genus Kochia, esp K . Scoparia trichophila, grown for its foliage , which turns dark red in the late summer : family Chenopodiaceae
wahoo
an elm , Ulmus alata, of SE North America having twigs with winged corky edges