BURNT

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does burnt mean? 

• BURNT (adjective)
  The adjective BURNT has 3 senses:

1. ruined by overcooking

2. treated by heating to a high temperature but below the melting or fusing point

3. destroyed or badly damaged by fire

  Familiarity information: BURNT used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BURNT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Ruined by overcooking

Synonyms:

burned; burnt

Context example:

she served us underdone bacon and burnt biscuits

Similar:

cooked (having been prepared for eating by the application of heat)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Treated by heating to a high temperature but below the melting or fusing point

Synonyms:

burned; burnt

Context example:

burnt sienna

Similar:

treated (subjected to a physical (or chemical) treatment or action or agent)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Destroyed or badly damaged by fire

Synonyms:

burned; burned-out; burned-over; burnt; burnt-out

Context example:

barricaded the street with burnt-out cars

Similar:

destroyed (spoiled or ruined or demolished)

 Context examples 

The whole of his lank cheek was invitingly before me, and I struck it with my open hand with that force that my fingers tingled as if I had burnt them.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

They say she had nearly burnt her husband in his bed once: but I don't know about that.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Those fellows up there did not open their mouths, and were so stupid that they let the few old rags which they had on their bodies get burnt.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

He tried to soothe his nose with his tongue, but the tongue was burnt too, and the two hurts coming together produced greater hurt; whereupon he cried more hopelessly and helplessly than ever.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Memory brought madness with it, and when I thought of what had passed, a real insanity possessed me; sometimes I was furious and burnt with rage, sometimes low and despondent.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

His skin, wherever it was exposed, was burnt by the sun; even his lips were black, and his fair eyes looked quite startling in so dark a face.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The landlady drew an envelope from her bag; from it she shook out two burnt matches and a cigarette-end upon the table.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

We sat still; my own cigar burnt furiously, but Van Helsing's went cold altogether.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

This approach would also help keep carbon out of the atmosphere by diverting timber away from being burnt as fuel.

(Visualising heat flow in bamboo could help design more energy-efficient and fire-safe buildings, University of Cambridge)

They found that increasing BMP8b levels changed some of the white fat into brown fat, a process known as beiging and thus increased the amount of energy burnt by the tissue.

(Study in mice suggests drug to turn fat ‘brown’ could help fight obesity, University of Cambridge)