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

The fire originated in the basement near the furnace after water in the wall leaked onto a panel, Kloth said. —Bridget Fogarty, jsonline.com, 3 Sep. 2025

Paint, cleaning products, gas, propane, and garden chemicals shouldn't be stored out in the open in these areas, and especially shouldn't be stored anywhere near the water heater or furnace. —Mary Shannon Wells, Southern Living, 3 Sep. 2025

Generated in the furnace of the sun, it’s deposited on the moon by solar winds that are repelled from Earth by our atmosphere and magnetic field. —Jeremy Bogaisky, Forbes.com, 2 Sep. 2025

First responders descended on the scene as a plume of smoke shrouded the five-story furnace building on Bells Lane. —Ruby Grisin, The Courier-Journal, 19 Aug. 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)