fume

1 of 2

noun

ˈfyüm

Synonyms of fume next

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

engine exhaust fumes

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

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

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

Matthew Arnold

: 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

: to expose to or treat with fumes

: to give off in fumes

fuming thick black smoke

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

intransitive verb

: to emit fumes

: to be in a state of excited irritation or anger

fretted and fumed over the delay

: 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

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

The scent of Blue Razz Lemonade replaces traffic fumes; Banana Ice covers the rancid smell of rubbish. —

WIRED, 19 Nov. 2023 Each sleek bottle neutralizes odor molecules with a blend of zinc, yeast ferment, and charcoal (so, no chemical fumes). —

Liana Schaffner, Allure, 21 Sep. 2023 Timothée Chalamet is taking it all in — apparent fumes included — in the first promo for his upcoming Saturday Night Live episode. —

Ryan Gajewski, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Nov. 2023 Calhoun noted that people who have been around a lot of second-hand smoke, chemical fumes, exhaust, poor air quality, high radon levels, or have a family history of lung cancer in people who never smoked should also talk to their physician about getting a lung cancer screening. —

Sherri Gordon, Health, 4 Nov. 2023 The batteries also allow Sól to cruise up to 300 nautical miles, with no fumes, noise, or vibration. —

Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 31 Oct. 2023 In announcing a massive recall of ventilators and sleep apnea machines, Philips Respironics acknowledged that an industrial foam placed inside the devices to reduce noise could break apart and send tiny particles and fumes into the noses, mouths and lungs of patients. —

Margaret Fleming, ProPublica, 1 Nov. 2023 Next came ejected glowing rocks, fire and lightning, fumes of thick smoke, falling pumice and ash, earthquakes, and a powerful tsunami with waves as high as 20 meters. —

Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 27 Oct. 2023 Not wanting to unnecessarily spew smoke and fumes into the small space, firefighters decided to wait for the door to automatically open. —

Aaron Katersky, ABC News, 25 Oct. 2023

Verb

Other Republicans appeared frustrated and even betrayed by the turn events, openly fuming to press about the McHenry plan. —

Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling, The New Republic, 19 Oct. 2023 Hanna fumed about how one of his neighbors responded to the flooding. —

Jessica Garrison, Los Angeles Times, 28 Sep. 2023 Fishermen have been fuming at processors since the announcements, and dozens of boats staged a floating protest Thursday on a Bristol Bay river, according to local public radio station KDLG. —

Nathaniel Herz, Anchorage Daily News, 27 July 2023 In McCarthy’s Central Valley congressional district, the most Republican in the Golden State, many residents fumed about the summary political execution of California’s first Republican speaker of the House. —

Laura J. Nelson, Los Angeles Times, 4 Oct. 2023 Many have also fumed at the idea of turning the Gazan population into refugees once again by displacing them from Gaza. —

Abbas Al Lawati, CNN, 17 Oct. 2023 Gaetz has long been one of Trump’s most vocal supporters but his move against McCarthy has left Republicans in Washington—and Florida—fuming. —

By alex Leary, WSJ, 4 Oct. 2023 The scene prompted fuming from politicians who saw the prospect of a multimillion-euro factory as an opportunity to attract Western companies that are increasingly building in eastern Germany. —

Ekaterina Bodyagina, New York Times, 3 Oct. 2023 Member after member emerged from a conference meeting on Thursday fuming—and forced to admit that the Party was at an impasse. —

Susan B. Glasser, The New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fume.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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.