fume

noun

\ ˈfyüm

Definition of fume

(Entry 1 of 2)

1a : 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

on fumes

: with little of the original strength or energy remaining tired ballplayers running on fumes

fume

verb

fumed; fuming

Definition of fume (Entry 2 of 2)

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

1a : 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

Other Words from fume Synonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about fume

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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

One woman is dead and another is in critical condition after dry ice left in the car the two were traveling in gave off toxic fumes, officials in Washington said. — Nicole Darrah, Fox News, "Dry ice left in car leaves 1 dead, 1 in critical condition: report," 31 July 2018 Loaded: 0% Progress: 0% 0:00 / 1:05 Volcanic eruption in Hawaii: Lava, ash and toxic fumesAdvertisement Scenes from the Kilauea volcano on Hawaii, which has been erupting for more than 20 days. — Don Sweeney, sacbee, "Please don’t take selfies with the deadly molten lava, Hawaii authorities ask," 20 June 2018 CBS News correspondent David Begnaud reports from Pahoa that people who live in the area are sleeping at night with gas masks beside the bed just in case the wind shifts direction and toxic fumes start blowing their way. — CBS News, "Gas released by volcano eruption poses immediate danger, officials warn," 15 May 2018 If New Orleans is an aging beauty queen drunk on the fumes of her glorious past, Plaquemines Parish, to the southeast, is plain old sloshed — not to mention saturated, striated, slivered and surrounded by water. — Jennifer Moses, New York Times, "At the Mouth of the Mississippi, a Weird and Fragile Beauty," 21 Feb. 2018 The Chamonix valley is often shrouded in smog, the product of wood-burning chimneys and the exhaust fumes of lorries rumbling to the Mont Blanc Tunnel between France and Italy. — The Economist, "Trouble on the slopesWinter sports face a double threat, from climate and demographic change," 25 Jan. 2018 In a mask to protect against the risks of toxic fumes from the debris, Michael, who declined to give his last name, looked over his father’s home. — Scott Wilson, The Seattle Times, "Nearly a month after the Camp Fire began razing their towns, Californians return to ruin," 5 Dec. 2018 There was a massive amount of smoke, a huge cloud of toxic fumes in the air. — Sarah Hurtes, Harper's BAZAAR, "Women Who Risk Everything to Defend the Environment," 30 Nov. 2018 The toxic fumes also represent a danger to those conducting cleanup and containment efforts. — Sarah Gibbens, National Geographic, "Why the Oil Tanker Explosion Would Be Such a Huge Disaster," 8 Jan. 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

Some conservative lawmakers had hoped a vote on the bill would calm grassroots conservatives who had been fuming about recent high levels of spending. — Eliza Collins, USA TODAY, "House fails to advance a balanced budget amendment to counter high spending levels," 12 Apr. 2018 Privately, Trump has been fuming over the Justice Department’s opposition to releasing the memo, according to an administration official not authorized to discuss private conversations and speaking on condition of anonymity. — Time, "House Committee Votes to Release Classified Memo on Russia Probe," 30 Jan. 2018 Democratic leader Chuck Schumer fumed Monday night over the committee receiving more than 42,000 pages of documents about Kavanaugh’s years with the Bush administration the night before the hearings get underway. — Lisa Mascaro, The Seattle Times, "What to watch for as senators consider Kavanaugh nomination," 3 Sep. 2018 Graduates, family, and alumni fumed about the incident on social media this week. — Annie Martin, OrlandoSentinel.com, "UF graduation usher who rushed students off stage is on paid leave," 9 May 2018 California's vintners and growers fumed Friday at the growing prospect that wine, nuts, fruit and other Golden State exports would become collateral damage in a trade battle between President Trump and China. — Geoffrey Mohan, latimes.com, "California farmers, winemakers kick dirt over Chinese tariffs," 23 Mar. 2018 Everton manager Sam Allardyce fumed that a member of the Everton media team is 'going to get a bollocking' after issuing the 'wrong statement' about Gylfi Sigurdsson's injury. — SI.com, "Sam Allardyce Hits Out at Everton Media Team After They Issue 'Wrong' Statement on Sigurdsson Injury," 15 Mar. 2018 Many also joked about Shayk’s possibly-fuming internal monologue throughout the whole spectacle. — Christian Allaire, Vogue, "Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s Oscars Performance of “Shallow” Had the World Swooning," 25 Feb. 2019 Back in Washington, during the waning days of the Clinton administration, national security adviser Sandy Berger fumed over the incident. — Warren Bass, WSJ, "The Bin Laden Attack That Two Presidents Failed to Answer," 10 Jan. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'fume.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for fume

Noun

Middle English, "smoke, exhalation," borrowed from Anglo-French fum, going back to Latin fūmus "smoke, fumes," going back to Indo-European *dhuh₂-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 *dhu̯eh₂- or *dheu̯h₂- "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 *dhou̯h₂-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.