What does "sear" mean?
A scar produced by searing
Sear
/sɪɚ/ adj, name, noun, verb
adj, name, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A scar produced by searing
- Grammar: sear is listed as adj, name, noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: char, scorch, adust, air-dry.
- Useful contrasts: cool, erase, forget.
- Usage evidence: Sear on each side over medium heat for 4 - 5 minutes.
How to use "sear"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "sear" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "sear" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "sear" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "sear" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "sear" is acting as adj, name, noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "char" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "sear", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A scar produced by searing
- 2 Part of a gun that retards the hammer until the trigger is pulled.
Verb
- 1 To char, scorch, or burn the surface of (something) with a hot instrument. transitive
"He likes to sear his steaks while maintaining rareness at the center."
- 2 cause to wither or parch from exposure to heat wordnet
- 3 To wither; to dry up.
"The drought was so severe as to sear the grass and the leaves of maple trees which had grown well for two years, standing in sward land by the roadside, and yet the corn, within ten feet, on the subsoiled land, did not roll once in the whole season, even at mid-day, and there was scarcely another piece in the neighborhood which escaped serious injury."
- 4 make very hot and dry wordnet
- 5 To make callous or insensible. figuratively, transitive
Show 3 more definitions
- 6 burn slightly and superficially so as to affect color wordnet
- 7 To mark permanently, as if by burning. figuratively, transitive
"The events of that day were seared into her memory."
- 8 become superficially burned wordnet
Adjective
- 1 Dry; withered, especially of vegetation.
"There are in all but three vvayes of going thither [to the moon]. […] [The] third, Old Empedocles vvay; vvho vvhen he leaped into Ætna, having a drie ſeare bodie, and light, the ſmoake took him and vvhift him up into the Moone, vvhere he lives yet vvaving up and dovvne like a feather, all foot and embers comming out of that cole-pit; our Poet met him, and talkt vvith him."
Adjective
- 1 (used especially of vegetation) having lost all moisture wordnet
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname.
Example
"Sear on each side over medium heat for 4 - 5 minutes."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "sear"?
Common synonyms include: char, scorch, adust, air-dry, anhydrate, attaint.
How do you use "sear" in a sentence?
Sear on each side over medium heat for 4 - 5 minutes.
How do you pronounce "sear"?
Pronounced /sɪɚ/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English sere, seer, seere, from Old English sēar, sīere (“dry, sere, sear, withered, barren”), from Proto-West Germanic *sauʀ(ī), from Proto-Germanic *sauzaz (“dry”), from Proto-Indo-European *sh₂ews- (“dry, parched”) (also reconstructed as *h₂sews-). Cognate with Dutch zoor (“dry, rough”), Low German soor (“dry”), German sohr (“parched, dried up”), dialectal Norwegian søyr (“the desiccation and death of a tree”), Lithuanian saũsas (“dry”), Ukrainian сухий (suxyj, “dry”), Polish suchy (“dry”), Homeric Ancient Greek αὖος (aûos, “dry”). Doublet of sere and sare.
Etymology 2
From Middle English seren, seeren, from Old English sēarian (“to become sere, to grow sear, wither, pine away”), from Proto-West Germanic *sauʀēn (“to dry out, become dry”); compare also Proto-Germanic *sauzijaną (“to make dry”). Related to Old High German sōrēn (“to wither, wilt”). See Etymology 1 for more cognates. The use in firearms terminology may relate to French serrer (“to grip”).
Etymology 3
Possibly from Old French serre (“claw, talon, grasp”)
Etymology 4
Variant of Sayer.