fume

1 of 2

noun

ˈfyüm 

1

a

: a smoke, vapor, or gas especially when irritating or offensive

engine exhaust fumes

b

: an often noxious suspension of particles in a gas (such as air)

2

: something (such as an emotion) that impairs one's reasoning

sometimes his head gets a little hot with the fumes of patriotism

—Matthew Arnold

3

: a state of excited irritation or anger

—usually used in the phrase in a fume

fumy

ˈfyü-mē 

adjective

fume

2 of 2

verb

fumed; fuming

transitive verb

1

: to expose to or treat with fumes

2

: to give off in fumes

fuming thick black smoke

3

: to utter while in a state of excited irritation or anger

intransitive verb

1

a

: to emit fumes

b

: to be in a state of excited irritation or anger

fretted and fumed over the delay

2

: to rise in or as if in fumes

Phrases

on fumes

: with little of the original strength or energy remaining

tired ballplayers running on fumes

Synonyms

Verb

• boil
• burn
• foam
• rage
• rankle
• seethe
• sizzle
• steam
• storm

Examples of fume in a Sentence

Verb

She's still fuming about not being invited to the party.

We sat there waiting for him, fuming with anger at the delay.

“They made these changes without even asking our opinion,” one employee fumed.

The volcano was fuming thick black smoke.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Turn on a fan or open a window: A fan or stovetop vent, or a good cross-breeze can help redirect the fumes. —Katie Rosenhouse, Southern Living, 16 May 2025

Often, that’s more valuable than forcing yourself to continue, then waking up running on fumes. —Kevin Kruse, Forbes.com, 18 Apr. 2025

Verb

Critics have also fumed about extravagant spending by government officials. —Patricia Cohen, New York Times, 4 May 2025

The Democratic National Committee plan for primary challenges has House Democrats fuming, but the tension between progressives and traditionalists likely won't be going away anytime soon. —Matt Galka, Baltimore Sun, 21 Apr. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English, "smoke, exhalation," borrowed from Anglo-French fum, going back to Latin fūmus "smoke, fumes," going back to Indo-European *d^huh₂-mó- "smoke, vapor" (whence also Old Church Slavic dymŭ "smoke," Lithuanian dū́mai, Sanskrit dhūmáḥ, and probably Greek thȳmós "spirit, mind, courage"), noun derivative from a verbal base *d^hu̯eh₂- or *d^heu̯h₂- "produce smoke by burning," whence Greek thýō, thýein "to sacrifice," Latin suffiō, suffīre "to subject to smoke, fumigate," Old Church Slavic dujǫ, duti "to blow" and perhaps Tocharian B twās- "kindle, ignite"

Note: Also allied are Hittite tuhhae-, perhaps "to smoke out, drive out by smoke," from an unattested noun derivative (earlier glossed as "gasp, cough"; see A. Kloeckhorst, Etymological Dictionary of the Hittite Inherited Lexicon, Brill, 2008); and Old High German toum "vapor, smoke," Middle Dutch doom "vapor, steam," going back to Germanic *dauma-, presumably from an o-grade derivative *d^hou̯h₂-mo-. Greek thȳmós is an exact phonetic correspondent to the other words, though the sense divergence suggests influence from some phonetically similar base of different meaning.

First Known Use

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Phrases Containing fume

• in a fume

Rhymes for fume

• blume
• boom
• broom
• doom
• flume
• gloom
• glume
• groom
• loom
• plume
• rheum
• room

Kids Definition

fume

1 of 2 noun

ˈfyüm 

: a disagreeable smoke, vapor, or gas

—usually used in plural

acid fumes

fumy

ˈfyü-mē 

adjective

fume

2 of 2 verb

fumed; fuming

1

: to expose to or treat with fumes

2

: to give off fumes

3

: to show bad temper or anger