furnace

noun

fur·​nace ˈfər-nəs 

: an enclosed structure in which heat is produced (as for heating a house or for reducing ore)

Examples of furnace in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Stars are the glittering beacons of the universe — massive nuclear furnaces that light up the night sky and shape the very fabric of galaxies. —Kenna Hughes-Castleberry, Space.com, 28 Sep. 2025

The artist Ernest Crichlow summons the memory of the sculptor Augusta Savage, whose studio, in a Harlem basement—amid furnaces and stacks of coal—was a paradise of enlightenment and a hive of creative effort. —Richard Brody, New Yorker, 23 Sep. 2025

Inside the furnace, a reaction takes place that rips the oxygen from the silica and sticks it to the carbon from the wood. —IEEE Spectrum, 22 Sep. 2025

In short, the Duisburg project is both a pilot plant and a blueprint, showing how legacy steelworks can hybridize blast-furnace islands into modern, multi-technology hubs. —Srishti Gupta, Interesting Engineering, 21 Sep. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English fourneyse, fornes, furneis "oven, kiln, furnace," borrowed from Anglo-French furneis, fornays, fornaise (continental Old French forneis —attested once as masculine noun— fornaise, feminine noun), going back to Latin fornāc-, fornāx (also furnāx) "furnace, oven, kiln (for heating baths, smelting metal, firing clay)," from forn-, furn-, base of furnus, fornus "oven for baking" + -āc-, -āx, noun suffix; forn- going back to Indo-European *g^whr̥-no- (whence also Old Irish gorn "piece of burning wood," Old Russian grŭnŭ, gŭrnŭ "cauldron," Russian gorn "furnace, forge," Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian gŕno "coals for heating iron at a smithy," Sanskrit ghṛṇáḥ "heat, ardor"), suffixed derivative of a verbal base *g^wher- "become warm" — more at therm

Note: The variation between -or-, the expected outcome of zero grade, and -ur- in Latin has been explained as reflecting a rural/dialectal change of o to u, borrowing from Umbrian, or the result of a sound change of uncertain conditioning; see most recently Nicholas Zair, "The origins of -urC- for expected -orC- in Latin," Glotta, Band 93 (2017), pp. 255-89.

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing furnace

• blast furnace
• reverberatory furnace

Rhymes for furnace

• externus

Kids Definition

furnace

noun

fur·​nace ˈfər-nəs 

: an enclosed structure in which heat is produced (as for heating a house or melting metals)