Burn Through – Meaning and Examples
Have you ever received a paycheck and spent it all in a few days? You burned through your money. This common idiom means to use up a resource—like money, time, or supplies—very quickly and often wastefully. Learning burn through will help you talk about rapid consumption and poor resource management.
What Does “Burn Through” Mean?
“Burn through” means to use something up rapidly and completely. It often implies that the resource was used carelessly, without much thought for the future.
Think of it like this: A fire burns through a piece of wood, turning it to ash quickly. Similarly, a person can burn through their savings, leaving nothing behind.
Remember, it emphasizes both the speed and the completeness of the consumption.
When to Use It
You can use this idiom for many types of resources that can be used up.
- Money: “He burned through his inheritance in less than a year.”
- Time: “We burned through our meeting time and didn’t finish the agenda.”
- Supplies: “The project burned through our entire budget for office supplies.”
The tone is often critical or concerned, highlighting wastefulness. It is common in informal and business contexts.
Example Sentences
- They burned through their vacation fund on a fancy trip.
- The startup burned through millions of dollars of investor money.
- My car burns through gasoline very quickly.
- Don’t burn through all your energy in the first half of the race.
Mini Dialogue
Manager: “We need to be careful with the project budget.”
Employee: “I know. The last team burned through theirs in the first two months.”
Manager: “Let’s make sure we don’t burn through ours that quickly.”
Common Mistakes to Avoid
The main mistake is confusing “burn through” with “burn out.” “Burn out” refers to becoming exhausted, while “burn through” refers to using up a resource.
❌ Don’t say: “I burned through after working 60 hours this week.”
✅ Do say: “I burned out after working 60 hours this week.” OR “I burned through my savings.”
Practice Tip
Think about a resource you have, like your monthly data on your phone or your grocery budget. If you use it too fast, you can say, “I burned through my [resource] this month.”
Final Note
This is a vivid idiom for describing waste and rapid consumption. It helps you express concern about using resources too quickly. Use it to talk about money, time, or any other limited supply!
