noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A controlled burn, lit in the path of a wildfire, in order to deprive it of combustible material.

Verb

1. 1
   To light a fire for this reason.

Synonyms

All synonyms

controlled burn

Etymology

From back + burn.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.