Definition of "scalding" [scalding]

• Causing a burning sensation, as from contact with hot liquid. (adjective)
• Boiling: scalding water. (adjective)
• Scorching; searing: scalding sunlight. (adjective)
• Harshly critical or denunciatory; scathing: a scalding review of the play. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "In this year's pageant, contestant Lauren Edwards dunked a large chicken in scalding water and plucked it with her bare hands."
• "For simply articulating a truth known by very many, not the least the Palestinian leadership, for decades, Whitley was chastised by the Jordanians, while Hamas angrily demanded his dismissal: one more example of how speaking your mind can land you in scalding water with those who regard freedom of speech as contingent on what you say."
• "Life can be found in scalding, acidic hot pools, in the driest deserts, and in the dark, crushing depths of the ocean."