Meaning & use
incense burner
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A container in which incense is burned, often used in religious ceremonies or for fragrance.
Grammar: Countable: one burner, two burners. Often preceded by 'an' or 'the'.
Patterns
- a incense burner
- the incense burner
- incense burners
She placed the incense burner on the altar and lit a stick.
The temple's incense burner was made of bronze and decorated with dragons.
He bought a small ceramic incense burner for his meditation room.
Word forms
| plural | incense burners |
|---|
Common combinations
- light an incense burner
- She lights an incense burner every evening to relax.
- brass incense burner
- The antique brass incense burner sat on the shelf.
- incense burner smoke
- The incense burner smoke filled the room with a sandalwood scent.
- place something in an incense burner
- He placed a cone in the incense burner and watched it smolder.
Synonyms and how they differ
- censer
- A more formal or technical term, especially for the swinging metal container used in some Christian services; 'incense burner' is the everyday word.
Commonly confused: incense burner or incense?
incense burner vs incense
Incense is the substance that produces fragrance when burned; an incense burner is the container that holds it.
Practice
Choose the correct sentence:
Choose one answer.
The pronoun 'it' correctly refers to the singular 'incense burner'. 'Them' is plural and does not agree; 'he' is a personal pronoun that cannot refer to an object; 'lit it up' is informal and means 'illuminated' rather than 'ignited'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “incense burner”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.