Meanings
present singular third person incinerates · participle present incinerating · participle past incinerated · past incinerated
- transitiveTo destroy by burning.
His mother was incinerated in the Dresden fire-storm. So it goes.
1969 March 31, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., chapter 1, in Slaughterhouse-Five […] (A Seymour Lawrence Book), New York, N.Y.: Delacorte Press, →OCLC, page 11 more example
A cloud of smoke from two pounds of methamphetamine seized by the FBI and incinerated inside a Montana animal shelter sent its workers to the hospital, city officials in Billings said.
2025 September 12, “Meth burn by FBI smokes out Montana animal shelter”, in CNN, sourced from Associated Press, archived from the original on 10 Oct 2025 - informalTo annihilate (not necessarily by burning).
- not comparableobsoleteReduced to ashes by burning; thoroughly consumed.
FIRE burneth wood, making it first luminous; then black and brittle; and lastly , broken and incinerate
1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “VII. Century.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC
Synonyms & antonyms
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinincinerātus
- Englishincinerate
From Latin incinerātus, perfect participle of incinerō (“to burn into ashes”), from cinis (“ashes”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ἀποτεφρόω
- ἀποτεφρόω (apotephróō)destroy by burning
Bulgarian изгарям, кремирам
- изгарям (izgarjam)destroy by burning
- кремирам (kremiram)destroy by burning
- изпепелявам (izpepeljavam)destroy by burning
Catalan incinerar
- incinerardestroy by burning
Chinese Mandarin 焚化, 燃燒 /燃烧
- 焚化 (fénhuà)destroy by burning
- 燃燒 /燃烧 (ránshāo)destroy by burning
Dutch verbranden
- verbrandendestroy by burning
Finnish polttaa, tuhkata
- polttaadestroy by burning
- tuhkatadestroy by burning
French incinérer
- incinérerdestroy by burning
German verbrennen, niederbrennen
- verbrennendestroy by burning
- niederbrennendestroy by burning
Greek αποτεφρώνω
- αποτεφρώνω (apotefróno)destroy by burning
Hungarian eléget
- elégetdestroy by burning
Japanese 焼却する, 燃やす
- 焼却する (shōkyaku suru)destroy by burning
- 燃やす (moyasu)destroy by burning
Korean 소각(燒却)하다, 태우다
- 소각(燒却)하다 (sogakhada)destroy by burning
- 태우다 (tae'uda)destroy by burning
Malay menunu
- menunudestroy by burning
Māori tūmata
- tūmatadestroy by burning
Polish spopielać, spopielić
- spopielaćdestroy by burning
- spopielićdestroy by burning
- spalaćdestroy by burning
- spalićdestroy by burning
Portuguese incinerar
- incinerardestroy by burning
Russian сжига́ть, сжечь
- сжига́ть (sžigátʹ)destroy by burning
- сжечь (sžečʹ)destroy by burning
- креми́ровать (kremírovatʹ)destroy by burning
- испепеля́ть (ispepeljátʹ)destroy by burning
- испепели́ть (ispepelítʹ)destroy by burning
Spanish incinerar
- incinerardestroy by burning
Swedish förbränna
- förbrännadestroy by burning
Turkish yakmak
- yakmakdestroy by burning
Ukrainian згоряти
- згоряти (zhorjaty)destroy by burning
Vietnamese thiêu
- thiêudestroy by burning
Yiddish פֿאַרברענען
- פֿאַרברענען (farbrenen)destroy by burning
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
incinerate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/incinerate
“incinerate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/incinerate. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “incinerate,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/incinerate.
Source: incinerate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.