boiling

boiling — adjective

1. so hot that being near it or touching it feels uncomfortable or unsafe.

1.adjectiveB2
Definition

so hot that being near it or touching it feels uncomfortable or unsafe.

Example

Aiko pulled her hand away from the boiling pan handle.

boiling + noun

By noon, the beach sand was boiling under our bare feet.

be boiling for painfully hot surfaces

Common collocations
  • boiling sand
  • boiling air
  • boiling kitchen
  • boiling pan handle
Synonyms
  • scorching

    stronger and more dramatic; often suggests heat that can burn.

  • roasting

    informal; common for weather or rooms, especially when people feel uncomfortable.

  • red-hot

    best for metal or machinery that has become extremely hot.

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

be + boiling

boiling + noun

Usage Note

Often describes air, rooms, metal, sand, and other things that feel painfully hot. It usually gives the speaker's impression of heat, not a scientific claim that something has reached the point where liquid bubbles.

Common Mistakes

The pan was very boiling after lunch.
The pan was boiling after lunch.' / 'The pan was very hot after lunch.
'boiling' already carries the idea of extreme heat, so 'very' sounds unnatural before it.

boiling — adverb

Word family

  • boil
    verbA2
  • boiler
    nounB2

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

'Hot' is the broad everyday word and fits almost any situation. 'Boiling' is stronger and more vivid; speakers use it when the heat feels hard to bear or almost dangerous. 'Scorching' is more dramatic still and often suggests sun or surfaces that could burn you. 'Sweltering' is different again: it usually describes weather or a room where the air feels heavy, sticky, and hard to breathe in. Compare: 'The pan handle was hot' gives basic information, but 'The pan handle was boiling' warns you not to touch it. 'It was sweltering on the bus' focuses on trapped air, while 'The sand was scorching' focuses on a burning surface.

boiling ↗hot ↗scorchingsweltering ↗

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchMiddle EnglishModern English

Boiling comes from the verb 'boil' plus the ending '-ing'. 'Boil' entered English through Old French from Latin 'bullire', which meant 'to bubble' or 'boil'. The oldest idea is liquid making bubbles because of heat; from that, English later developed the wider sense 'extremely hot' and the intensifying use in phrases like 'boiling hot' and 'boiling mad'.