hot

1 of 4

adjective

hotter; hottest
1
a
: having a relatively high temperature
hot and humid weather
serving hot meals to the poor
b
: capable of giving a sensation of heat or of burning, searing, or scalding
working outside in the hot sun
fried in hot oil
c
: having heat in a degree exceeding normal body heat
Your forehead feels hot.
2
a
: marked by violence or fierceness : stormy
a hot temper
a hot battle
also : angry
got hot about the remark
b(1)
: sexually excited or receptive
It's obvious he's hot for her.
(2)
: sexy
That guy she's dating is really hot.
c
: eager, zealous
hot for reform
d
of jazz : emotionally exciting and marked by strong rhythms and free melodic improvisations
3
: having or causing the sensation of an uncomfortable degree of body heat
hot and tired
it's hot in here
4
a
: newly made : fresh
a hot scent
bread hot from the oven
hot off the press
b
: close to something sought
hot on the trail
5
a
: suggestive of heat or of burning or glowing objects : very bright
hot colors
hot pink
b
of food : having a component (such as capsaicin) that creates a burning or tingling sensation in the mouth : pungent, peppery
hot mustard
the hottest chili I've ever tasted
see also hot pepper, hot sauce
6
a
: of intense and immediate interest
some hot gossip
b
: unusually lucky or favorable
on a hot streak
c
: temporarily capable of unusual performance (as in a sport)
d
: currently popular or in demand
She's become one of Hollywood's hottest commodities.
a hot item in stores this year
e
: very good
a hot idea
not feeling too hot
f
: absurd, unbelievable
wants to fight the champ? that's a hot one
7
a
: electrically energized especially with high voltage
That wire is hot.
b
: radioactive
hot material
also : dealing with radioactive material
a hot laboratory
c
of an atom or molecule : being in an excited state
8
a
: recently and illegally obtained
hot jewels
admitted that the car was hot
b
: wanted by the police
also : unsafe for a fugitive
made the town too hot for them
9
: fast
a hot new fighter plane
a hot lap around the track
hotness noun
hottish adjective

hot

2 of 4

adverb

1
: hotly
the sun shines hotWilliam Shakespeare
2

hot

3 of 4

noun

1
: a period of relatively high temperature : a period of heat
during the hot of the day
2
: one that is hot (such as a hot meal or a horse just after a workout)
3
hots plural : strong sexual desire
used with the
has got the hots for the new guy in the office

hot

4 of 4

verb

hotted; hotting; hots

transitive verb

chiefly Southern US, south Midland US, and British
: heat, warm
He took her up her supper, saying, "I've hotted the soup, and I found the chicken."Mrs. Henry Dudeney (Alice Louisa Dudenay)
usually used with up
hotted up the kettle
… he was sitting by the fire hotting up some of his cider in a saucepan; this he was taking with rosemary to cure his cold.Fred Archer
see also hot up
Phrases
hot under the collar
: extremely exasperated or angry

Examples of hot in a Sentence

Adjective It is hot in the summer and cold in the winter. The baked potatoes were too hot to handle with our bare hands. We worked all afternoon in the hot sun. The chicken was fried in hot oil. Your forehead feels hot. I think you might have a fever. I was feeling hot and tired. a selection of hot beverages The new toys are so hot that stores can't keep them in stock. Her new book is a hot seller. She spoke about the latest hot trends in the computer industry. Adverb workers were working hot and heavy to repair the breach in the levee
Recent Examples on the Web
Adjective
El Nino makes for wetter, colder seasons while El Nina creates dryer and hotter conditions. Ella Gonzales, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 6 Mar. 2024 Garlic ranch, Nashville hot, creamy jalapeño, spicy hot honey, green goddess and parmesan ranch are all launching in the next few weeks, and each one is meant for tossing in a salad or smearing on a sandwich. Sabrina Weiss, Peoplemag, 6 Mar. 2024 Each won a best actor Golden Globe; then Giamatti won the Critics Choice Award; and then Murphy got hot and won the BAFTA and SAG awards. David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 6 Mar. 2024 The Ranch Hudson Valley will offer three- and four-night programs (available from Monday through Thursday and Thursday through Monday, respectively) that incorporate low-impact exercises, hikes, yoga, massages, and hot and cold plunges. Dobrina Zhekova, Travel + Leisure, 5 Mar. 2024 Data released last week confirmed that January inflation was hotter than it was meant to be at this stage, according to the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index. Cale Clingenpeel, National Review, 5 Mar. 2024 Have it alongside Mint Mark’s crazy-good buttery biscuit hot from the oven and you’re practically whisked away to Mamaw’s country kitchen. Rachel Bernhard, Journal Sentinel, 5 Mar. 2024 Traditional cement is made by crushing limestone and other materials, later heating them to blistering temperatures hotter than 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The Arizona Republic, 5 Mar. 2024 Parents and caregivers should watch for signs of overheating, such as sweating or the baby's chest feeling hot to the touch. Casey Clark, Parents, 5 Mar. 2024
Adverb
It's certainly made things more interesting, and volatile considering how the shot itself has made even the best of teams vulnerable to a hot-shooting upstart. Aaron Beard, USA TODAY, 18 Jan. 2024 Missouri came out hot in the third quarter, quickly taking a lead. Arkansas Online, 3 Mar. 2023 In 2019 Bodin Danielsson and Töres Theorell of Stockholm University studied hot-desking offices that skimped on breakout rooms or otherwise didn't have enough space for everyone to find a work space to their liking, and employees were unhappier with this office type. George Musser, Scientific American, 14 Mar. 2023 Rocket Lab has already hot-fired a Rutherford engine recovered from an Electron flight. Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 31 Mar. 2023 But there are also those who love being toyed with, and hot-potatoing a narrative back and forth in our hands without needing concrete A-to-B answers — who appreciate a horror vibe. David Fear, Rolling Stone, 30 Mar. 2023 The Brewers arrived in San Diego already missing the services of shortstop Willy Adames (ankle), right-handed starter Freddy Peralta (shoulder) then lost hot-hitting outfielder Hunter Renfroe to a strained hamstring during the series opener Monday night. Andrew Wagner, Forbes, 27 May 2022 Dixon’s preferred recipe starts with flaking kippered, or hot-smoked, salmon into a bowl. Teresa Nowakowski, Smithsonian Magazine, 20 Mar. 2023 The 15 first-half points off additional chances helped Toronto keep pace with hot-shooting Milwaukee in the first half, trailing 58-56. Jim Owczarski, Journal Sentinel, 19 Mar. 2023
Noun
The three ranch flavors bringing some heat (creamy jalapeño, spicy hot honey and Nashville hot) will be available exclusively at Walmarts but the other flavors will be at additional grocery stores. Sabrina Weiss, Peoplemag, 6 Mar. 2024 The Fed will likely not be in a hurry to cut rates, if the data continues to come in this hot. CBS News, 25 Jan. 2024 Entering a Sunday night date with Chicago at SoFi Stadium, the emotion is oozing lava hot. Jeff Miller, Los Angeles Times, 27 Oct. 2023 Twitter has discovered that Petey’s dad is low-key hot. Abbey White, The Hollywood Reporter, 21 Aug. 2023 Running an iron hot makes things easier to solder, but also runs the risk of melting components. Matt Crisara, Popular Mechanics, 4 Apr. 2023 Baseball is a game of highs and lows, hots and colds, peaks and valleys. Nathan Ruiz, Baltimore Sun, 22 Mar. 2023 Like, smoldering, earth-torching hot. Lars Brandle, Billboard, 14 Mar. 2023 Kept the cold cold and the hot hot. Katie Jackson, Travel + Leisure, 4 Mar. 2023
Verb
After another pep talk from Khalil (good friend alert!), Mavis hots herself up and goes in for the meeting, but then refuses to work with Jacque on principle and strides right out. Emma Specter, Vogue, 28 July 2023 So, she hot glued them to a piece of twine and strung it across the ceiling. Hadley Keller, House Beautiful, 24 Dec. 2019 The holding company – which traces its roots to hot the ’90s Web firm CMGI — consists of two units today, one in supply chain management and the other in direct marketing. BostonGlobe.com, 17 Dec. 2019

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hot.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Adjective

Middle English hot, hoot, (northern) hat, going back to Old English hāt, going back to Germanic *haita- (whence also Old Frisian & Old Saxon hēt "having a high temperature, burning," Old High German heiz, Old Norse heitr), of uncertain origin

Note: For Germanic verb and noun derivatives of *haita- see heat entry 1, heat entry 2. The Early Modern English shortening of Middle English long open o in hot has been explained as influence of the comparative and superlative forms, but this does not appear to have occurred in analogous cases. The Germanic adjective *haita-, from a presumed pre-Germanic *koid-, is reflected in other ablaut variants, as Gothic heito "fever," from *hītōn- (from *keid-) and a zero grade in Old Frisian hette, hitte "heat," Old High German hizzea, hizza (from *kid-); all these may reflect an unattested strong verb *hītan-. Traditionally the base *keid- has been connected by means of a "root extension" *-d- with Old High German hei, gehei, geheige "heat, drought," Middle Dutch hei "hot, dry," from a presumed Indo-European verb base *kei- "burn, heat" (in earlier literature *kai-, though there appears to be no reason to posit such a vocalism). These forms have in turn been compared with a series of Baltic words (as Lithuanian kaičiù, kaĩsti "to heat," kaistù, kaĩsti "to become hot"), from *koit- with a different root extension -t-.

Adverb

Middle English hot, hote, hoote, going back to Old English hāte, derivative of hāt hot entry 1

Noun

derivative of hot entry 1

Note: Frequently nominalized as a pair with cold entry 1 (the nominal equivalent of which is identical with the adjective), a connection that goes back to Old English ("hat and ceald").

Verb

Middle English hoten, going back to Old English hātian, gehātian, derivative of hāt hot entry 1

First Known Use

Adjective

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Adverb

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

12th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of hot was before the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near hot

Cite this Entry

“Hot.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hot. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

hot

adjective
ˈhät
hotter; hottest
1
: having a high temperature
2
a
: easily excited : ardent, fiery
hot temper
b
: violent sense 1, raging
a hot battle
c
: eager
hot for reform
3
: feeling or causing an uncomfortable degree of body heat
my forehead is hot
it's hot in here
4
: newly made : fresh
hot scent
also : close to something sought
you're getting hotter
5
: suggestive of heat or of burning or glowing objects
hot spicy foods
hot colors
6
a
: temporarily capable of unusual performance (as in a sport)
b
: currently popular or interesting
a hot topic of conversation
the hot fashions for spring
7
a
: carrying electric current
c
: dealing with radioactive material
8
a
: recently stolen
hot jewels
b
: wanted by the police
hot adverb
hotly adverb
hotness noun

Medical Definition

hot

adjective
hotter; hottest
1
a
: having a relatively high temperature
b
: capable of giving a sensation of heat or of burning, searing, or scalding
c
: having heat in a degree exceeding normal body heat
2
a
: radioactive
especially : exhibiting a relatively great amount of radioactivity when subjected to radionuclide scanning
b
: dealing with radioactive material

More from Merriam-Webster on hot

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