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

Opponents of the project fume at the public money spent on the works. —Stephen Castle, New York Times, 3 Apr. 2024

Smelter fumes smothered vegetation, leaving hillsides barren. —Roger Naylor, The Arizona Republic, 22 Mar. 2024

Even short-term exposure to fumes can result in cough, phlegm, and lung irritation.8 Fumes can also exacerbate the symptoms of allergies or asthma. —Claire Gillespie, Health, 17 Mar. 2024

Indeed, the human capacity for processing data has been far outpaced by the rate at which these digital exhaust fumes are generated. —Dave Link, Forbes, 27 Feb. 2024

As a massive underground garbage fire continues to spread sickening odors and noxious fumes over Castaic area neighborhoods, Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger has called on Chiquita Canyon Landfill owners to relocate affected residents until the issue is resolved. —Tony Briscoe, Los Angeles Times, 9 Feb. 2024

When the stations were being built, during Mike Bloomberg’s and Bill de Blasio’s mayoral administrations, hundreds of residents protested, fearing mess, smell, and exhaust fumes. —Eric Lach, The New Yorker, 8 Apr. 2024

Those who work from home consume much less gasoline, avoid traffic jams and overall produce less exhaust fumes. —Leonard Martin Schmedding, Forbes, 22 Feb. 2024

It can be found in fumes produced by burning fuel in vehicles, small engines, stoves, lanterns, grills, fireplaces, gas ranges, or furnaces. —USA TODAY, 18 Jan. 2024

Verb

Meanwhile, certain irritations exceed the boundaries of workplace settings; Whether at home or in the office, workers fume at colleagues taking credit for their work (46%), talking over them (36%), and micromanaging (34%). —Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, 21 Mar. 2024

On the day of the visit, the increasingly unhinged Eva hovers outside the room, fuming. —Peter Debruge, Variety, 22 Feb. 2024

Kansas City was frustrated, and no one fumed more than star tight end Travis Kelce. Kelce, after a massive Isiah Pacheco fumble early in the second quarter, berated Andy Reid on the sidelines. —Danny Emerman, The Mercury News, 12 Feb. 2024

Trump, who left the Manhattan courtroom before the verdict was read, fumed on social media and vowed to appeal the jury's decision. —Aysha Bagchi, USA TODAY, 26 Jan. 2024

In 2016, Bernie Sanders supporters fumed at the structure of the caucus that allowed Hillary Clinton to win in spite of Sanders possibly having had more votes. —Dan McLaughlin, National Review, 16 Jan. 2024

Sinclair said the crowd — some of whom had traveled even farther, from England or northern Scotland — was fuming. —Daniel Wu, Washington Post, 28 Feb. 2024

Dan Campbell is still probably fuming at how his team lost to the Dallas Cowboys on the controversial referee call. —USA TODAY, 3 Jan. 2024

The decision, which found that Musk’s control over Tesla’s board led it to grant him an unfairly lavish compensation deal, left Musk fuming. —Rachel Lerman, Washington Post, 19 Feb. 2024

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

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