TORCHES Synonyms: 60 Similar and Opposite Words

torches 1 of 2

noun

plural of torch

as in igniters

a person who deliberately and unlawfully sets fire to a building or other property several suspicious fires in the past few months have probably been set by the same torch

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torches

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of torch

as in burns

to set (something) on fire police suspect that the owner torched the house for the insurance money

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of torches

Noun

Ancient viewers would have relied on beeswax and tallow candles, incense burners and torches. — Jacqueline Ortoleva, Scientific American, 3 Oct. 2026 Protesting steelworkers walked around the Riverside pitch in 2015, torches lit on their mobile phones. — Michael Walker, New York Times, 15 Sep. 2026 The bundle also includes four torches to keep the bugs at bay. — Amber Harding Outkick, FOXNews.com, 4 Sep. 2026 Tamekia Morris didn’t start her career thinking about welding torches or HVAC units. — Carson Bonner, AJC.com, 17 Aug. 2026 Tables and seating are arranged around a crackling fire with torches and ambient lighting surround the venue under the open sky and stars. — Roger Sands, Forbes.com, 17 Aug. 2026 Bulky lanterns, torches, and oversized fixtures can compete for attention, interrupt sight lines, and disrupt the flow of traffic when guests are over. — Rachel Silva, Martha Stewart, 15 Aug. 2026 North Metro also emphasized that propane torches should not be used on weeds during the current fire restrictions. — Sarah Horbacewicz, CBS News, 12 Aug. 2026 Midwives delivered the baby using two mobile phone torches balanced on windowsills. — Christopher McFadden, Interesting Engineering, 25 July 2026

Verb

Continue reading … BENCH WARRED — Blanche torches Trump foe Boasberg after appeals court blocks judge again in deportation fight. — FOXNews.com, 15 Apr. 2026 Hopper cut off a Demogorgon’s head, and Murray torches quite a few. — Dessi Gomez, Deadline, 12 Nov. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for torches

Noun

On Tuesday, arsonists set ablaze at least three vehicles, including a taxi and a public bus, and armed men threatened merchants in broad daylight, plunging the city into fear.

— ABC News, ABC News, 23 Sep. 2026
In the coming years, his life would be shaken by arsonists and assassinations, and dramatically shifting public views about Arabs.

— Rozina Ali, New Yorker, 21 Aug. 2026

Definition of arsonists

Verb

The report authors also looked at how climate change could play out differently if the world burns more or fewer fossil fuels and puts in place stronger or weaker policies.

— Blanca Begert, Los Angeles Times, 20 Oct. 2026
Decades later, the fire lit by his first steed, a brown Schwinn Mag Scrambler, still burns bright.

— Stewart Clarke, Deadline, 19 Oct. 2026

Definition of burns

Verb

Jason fires a 3-D harpoon into the eye of Vera Sanchez (Catherine Parks), and later crushes the skull of Rick Bombay (Paul Kratka), causing his eyes to pop out.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 19 Oct. 2026
After all, what could go wrong sitting atop three million barrels of oil while a hostile country fires missiles and drones at it?

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 12 Oct. 2026

Definition of fires

Verb

While Martin Scorsese called it one of the scariest movies of all time, The Uninvited kindles a wonderful romance between Rick and Stella.

— Steven Thrash, Entertainment Weekly, 25 Oct. 2025
The star of Big Little Lies confessed her new film, Caught Stealing, kindles a powerful yearning for some aspects of the era.

— Ryan Coleman, EW.com, 1 Sep. 2025

Definition of kindles

Verb

The painting itself even ignites uncertainty among art historians.

— Chelsea Gohd, Space.com, 22 Oct. 2026
In modern nuclear weapons, conventional explosives set off a fission reaction—the splitting of big atoms—whose intensity then ignites a fusion reaction that combines light atoms.

— Sarah Scoles, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2026

Definition of ignites

Verb

The city is bracing for triple digit temperatures this week as another heat wave scorches Central and Eastern Europe, driving fears that levels could drop even further.

— Laura Paddison, CNN Money, 5 Aug. 2026
France followed its hottest-ever day with yet more brutal temperatures as a deadly heat wave scorches much of western Europe.

— Elizabeth Robinson, NBC news, 24 June 2026

Definition of scorches

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torched

torches

torching

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“Torches.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/torches. Accessed 28 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of torches

noun

verb

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