Meaning & use
incinerate
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To burn something completely until it is reduced to ash, often as a way of getting rid of it.
Grammar: Takes an object: incinerate the documents.
Patterns
- incinerate something
- incinerate something at a facility
The company incinerates old files to keep customer data secure.
Household waste is incinerated at high temperatures in the new plant.
The fire incinerated everything inside the warehouse within minutes.
verbtransitive
To burn something severely, especially in a fire or very hot conditions.
Grammar: Often used in the passive to describe something damaged by extreme heat.
Patterns
- be incinerated in something
- be incinerated by something
The crops were incinerated by the intense heat of the wildfire.
The car was incinerated in the garage fire, leaving only a metal frame.
Word forms
| third person singular | incinerates |
|---|---|
| past tense | incinerated |
| past participle | incinerated |
| -ing form | incinerating |
Common combinations
- incinerate waste
- Some countries incinerate waste to reduce the amount sent to landfills.
- incinerate documents
- The bank incinerates old documents to protect privacy.
- incinerate at high temperatures
- The material must be incinerated at high temperatures to be destroyed safely.
- be incinerated in a fire
- The evidence was incinerated in a fire before the trial.
Synonyms and how they differ
- burn
- Burn is the general word and can mean any amount of burning; incinerate suggests complete destruction, often deliberate.
- cremate
- Cremate is used specifically for burning a dead body; incinerate is used for waste, documents, or objects.
- torch
- Torch is informal and often means to set fire to something deliberately, sometimes for destruction; incinerate is more formal and technical.
Word family
- incineration noun
- The process of burning something completely.
- incinerator noun
- A machine or furnace designed for burning waste.
Commonly confused: incinerate or incense?
incinerate vs incense
Incense is a substance that smells sweet when burned, or to make someone very angry; incinerate means to burn something completely.
Practice
The hospital needs to ___ used medical items safely.
Choose one answer.
After 'to' we use the base form of the verb, so 'incinerate' is correct. 'Incinerates' is third-person singular, 'incinerated' is past tense, and 'incinerating' is the -ing form, none of which fit after 'to'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “incinerate”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.