sizzling

1. 1
   adjective

   Hot enough to give off a hissing, crackling sound.

   The cook flipped the steak on the sizzling griddle.

   Bacon hit the sizzling skillet and filled the kitchen with smoke.

   Similarhot, searing, scorching, red-hot

   Oppositecold, cool

2. 2
   adjectivecolloquial

   Exciting and charged with intense emotion or sexual attraction.

   Critics praised the sizzling chemistry between the two leads.

   Their sizzling affair dominated the gossip columns for months.

   Similarsteamy, torrid, passionate, electric, hot

   Oppositetepid, lukewarm, dull

3. 3
   adjective

   Served at the table still hissing in the hot metal dish it was cooked in.

   The waiter carried out a sizzling platter of garlic shrimp.

   Their signature dish is a sizzling skillet of peppers and steak.

   Note

   A menu word as much as a description, it turns up in the names of dishes, especially in Asian cuisine. It promises a bit of theater at the table: the dish arrives still crackling in its pan. Placed before the dish's name, it usually reads as part of that name rather than a passing comment on temperature. The plain "very hot" meaning can describe any griddle or skillet.

4. 4
   adjectivecolloquial

   Strikingly skillful or impressive.

   The guitarist delivered a sizzling solo that left the audience breathless.

   He hit a sizzling forehand down the line to win the point.

   Similarblistering, dazzling, scorching, brilliant, electrifying

   Oppositelackluster, mediocre

5. 5
   noununcountable

   The hissing, crackling sound produced by food frying or by a very hot surface meeting liquid.

   The sizzling of the fajitas drew every eye in the restaurant.

   A loud sizzling came from the grill as the fat dripped down.

   Similarhissing, crackling, spitting, sputtering

6. 6
   verb

   Present participle of sizzle.

   The steaks were sizzling over the open flame.

   Fat kept sizzling as the roast turned on the spit.

   Note

   The form does two jobs. As a participle it builds progressive tenses (the fat is sizzling); as a gerund it acts as a verbal noun. Most uses describe the food itself, because sizzle is chiefly intransitive. The transitive use, sizzling the onions, is informal. Once the word can be graded (more sizzling, most sizzling), it has become the adjective for hot surfaces. When it takes a plural, it is the noun for the sound.

   She was sizzling the onions in butter while the rice cooked.

   Sizzling is the first thing you hear when the batter hits the oil.

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