Word · Frequency #24500
incinerate
焚化；烧成灰；灰化
to burn something completely until it is reduced to ashes, or to be burned completely
- 1.
To destroy by burning.
用火烧毁；焚毁。
用火烧毁；焚毁。；烧成灰；灰化；焚化
In use
The waste management plant incinerates hazardous medical waste at very high temperatures.
The fire incinerated the old wooden shed within minutes.
If the temperature is high enough, the dry leaves will incinerate almost instantly.
incinerate sth
及物动词，宾语通常是被烧毁的物体或废弃物。
The plant incinerates hazardous waste at high temperatures.
这家工厂在高温下焚化危险废物。
be incinerated
被动语态很常见，强调物体被彻底烧毁。
All the evidence was incinerated in the fire.
所有证据都在大火中被焚毁。
sth incinerates
作不及物动词时，主语是燃烧物本身，表示“烧成灰”。
The dry wood incinerated within minutes.
干木头几分钟内就烧成了灰。
Verb forms
base incinerate · third person incinerates · -ing incinerating · past incinerated · past participle incinerated
规则动词，意为“焚化，把……烧成灰”；例句涵盖一般现在时、一般过去时和现在完成时。
Common mistakes
The documents incinerated by the company.The documents were incinerated by the company.
incinerate 作及物动词时，若主语是动作对象，必须用被动语态（be + 过去分词）。中文的“被……焚烧”里没有助动词，容易让人漏掉 were。
The waste was incinerated into ashes.The waste was incinerated.
incinerate 本身就有“烧成灰、化为灰烬”的意思，后面再加 into ashes 会造成语义重复；直接说 was incinerated 即可。
The factory incinerates waste under a high temperature.The factory incinerates waste at a high temperature.
表示“在某个温度下”时，英语用 at a temperature，不用 under；这里不要把中文“在……下”直译成 under。
Connections
Collocations
- incinerate waste
- 焚烧垃圾
- The plant incinerates household waste to generate electricity.这家工厂焚烧生活垃圾来发电。
- incinerate evidence
- 烧毁证据
- He tried to incinerate the evidence before the police arrived.他试图在警察到达前烧毁证据。
- incinerate documents
- 焚毁文件
- The company was accused of incinerating confidential documents.该公司被指控焚毁机密文件。
- be incinerated
- 被焚毁；化为灰烬
- The entire archive was incinerated in the fire.整个档案库在大火中被焚毁。
- incinerate at high temperature
- 高温焚烧
- Medical waste must be incinerated at high temperatures.医疗废物必须在高温下焚烧。
Pop culture & quotes
Learner notes
Memory Tip
联想：incinerate 里有 cinder（煤渣/灰烬），焚烧后只剩灰烬。
Context & Register
语域：formal 常见场景：废物焚烧处理、火灾或事故报告、官方声明或新闻报道 该词通常用于正式或书面语境，多出现在废弃物焚烧、火灾调查或官方报告中；日常口语较少见，可说 burn 或 burn up。
Pronunciation & Spelling
这些词都以 -erate 结尾，读作 /əreɪt/，与 incinerate 末尾的音节相同，但因重音位置不同，它们并不与 incinerate 严格押韵。注意形近词：insinuate /ɪnˈsɪnjueɪt/（暗示）和 inoculate /ɪˈnɒkjuleɪt/（接种）看起来相似，但读音不同，不要混淆。
Usage priority
Collins 词频等级为 1，建议结合例句记忆，而不是只背中文释义。
Learn the forms together
页面下方列出了常见词形变化。学习时注意它们在句子中的语法位置。
Dictionary facts from ECDICT, WIKTIONARY.