Word of the Day

: July 29, 2013

suffuse

verb suh-FYOOZ

What It Means

: to spread over or through in the manner of fluid or light : flush, fill

suffuse in Context

Mother opened the curtains and instantly the room was suffused with the light of morning.

"Given that the 1999 original worked as a crude-but-endearing corrective to the likes of 'Porky's,' the gently bittersweet tone suffusing this labor-of-love project … is neither inappropriate nor unwelcome." - From a film review by Justin Chang in Variety, April 4, 2012

Did You Know?

If you are cold or embarrassed, your cheeks may become suffused with a red glow, as though coated on one side with paint. This is reflected in the word’s etymology. "Suffuse" derives from Latin "suffundere," meaning "to pour beneath," a blend of the prefix "sub-" ("under") and "fundere" ("to pour"). Other verbs related to "fundere" continue the theme of pouring or spreading: "diffuse" ("to pour out and spread freely"), "effuse" ("to pour or flow out"), "transfuse" ("to cause to pass from one to another"), and the verb "fuse" itself when it's used to mean "to meld or join."