Meaning & use
burnt up
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivenot comparable
Destroyed or badly damaged by fire.
Grammar: Used after a linking verb like 'be' or 'look', or before a noun: The house was burnt up. / a burnt-up field.
Patterns
- be burnt up
- a burnt-up building
After the wildfire, the whole hillside was burnt up.
They returned to find their barn burnt up and nothing left inside.
The old letters were burnt up in the fireplace.
adjectivenot comparableinformal
Very angry or upset, especially about something that seems unfair.
Grammar: Usually follows 'be' or 'get': She was burnt up about the decision.
Patterns
- be burnt up about something
- get burnt up over something
He was really burnt up about losing the match.
Don't get so burnt up over a small mistake.
adjectivenot comparableinformalold-fashioned
Suffering from a high fever or feeling very hot and unwell.
Grammar: Often used after 'be': The child was burnt up with fever.
Patterns
- be burnt up with fever
The baby was burnt up with a fever and couldn't sleep.
She felt burnt up and dizzy all afternoon.
Common combinations
- completely burnt up
- The forest was completely burnt up by the time the rain came.
- burnt up in a fire
- Their documents were burnt up in a fire.
- burnt up about something
- She's still burnt up about the way she was treated.
- burnt-up land
- Nothing would grow on the burnt-up land for years.
Synonyms and how they differ
- burned
- More neutral and common in American English; it can describe any damage by fire, not only total destruction.
- charred
- Suggests a blackened surface from fire, but not necessarily complete destruction.
- incinerated
- Formal and technical; means completely burned to ash, often in a controlled way.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: burnt up or burned up? burnt up or burnt out?
burnt up vs burned up
The American spelling; 'burnt up' is more common in British English. Both mean the same.
burnt up vs burnt out
Means exhausted or no longer able to work, not destroyed by fire.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'burnt up' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Burnt up' means destroyed or badly damaged by fire, so 'The building was burnt up in the fire' is correct. Option B is wrong because you burn a letter with a flame, not a pen. Option C is wrong because 'burnt up with a cold' is not a normal phrase; you can be 'burnt up with fever', but not with a cold. Option D is wrong because food in a fridge is not burnt up.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “burnt up”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.