WordWeb Online

1. Make very hot and dry
   "The heat seared the countryside"
   - scorch
    
2. Become superficially burned
   "my eyebrows seared when I bent over the flames"
   - scorch, singe
    
3. Burn slightly and superficially so as to affect colour
   "The fire seared the ceiling above the mantelpiece"
   - char, blacken, scorch
    
4. Cause to wither or parch from exposure to heat
   "The sun seared the earth"
   - parch

1. (used especially of vegetation) having lost all moisture
   "sear grass"
   - dried-up, sere, shriveled [US], shrivelled [Brit, Cdn], withered

Sounds like: sere, seer, cere

Derived forms: seared, searing, sears

See also: dry

Type of: burn, combust, dry, dry out, heat, heat up

Encyclopedia: Sear