Language tip of the week: hot

In this weekly post, we bring more useful content from the Macmillan Dictionary to English language learners. These tips are usually based on areas of English which learners find difficult, e.g. spelling, grammar, collocation, synonyms, etc.

This week’s language tip helps with some other ways of saying hot:

tepid almost cold: used especially of liquids: a mouthful of tepid coffee
lukewarm only slightly hot: used especially of food or liquids: Wash the sweater in lukewarm water.
warm pleasantly hot: a warm sunny day ♦ a nice warm bath
sweltering very hot in a way that is unpleasant or uncomfortable, used especially for describing the weather: the sweltering August heat
boiling (hot) very hot in a way that is unpleasant or uncomfortable. Also used for referring to the temperature of a liquid when it starts to bubble: Can you turn the heating down? I’m boiling. ♦ Plunge the pasta into boiling water.
scalding (hot) hot enough to burn your skin, used for referring to the temperature of liquids: The bath water was scalding hot.
roasting extremely hot: used especially for referring to the temperature inside a place rather than outside: Phew! It’s roasting in here!
baking very hot and dry: the baking heat of the afternoon sun

Here are some more words that mean hot:

red-hot extremely hot: Be careful – the iron is red-hot.
scorching extremely hot, used especially for describing the weather: scorching temperatures
steamy used about weather that is hot and damp: I flew down to hot and steamy Miami.
tropical used about weather that is very hot, especially when the air also feels slightly wet: New York City in the summer is positively tropical.