furnace
Americannoun
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furnaces
plural
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a structure or apparatus in which heat may be generated, as for heating houses, smelting ores, or producing steam.
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a place characterized by intense heat.
The volcano was a seething furnace.
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Astronomy. Furnace, the constellation Fornax.
verb (used with object)
noun
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an enclosed chamber in which heat is produced to generate steam, destroy refuse, smelt or refine ores, etc
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a very hot or stifling place
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of furnace
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English furneis, furnais, from Old French fornais, fournais, from Latin fornāc- (stem of fornāx “kiln, oven”), akin to formus “warm”
Explanation
A furnace is an appliance that heats houses and buildings by burning fuel or circulating hot water. Your furnace might rumble in the basement, sending heat up through your house's radiators. Most houses in cold climates have a furnace, to warm their rooms during the chilly months of the year. Furnaces also have industrial uses, like burning trash or extracting ore from metal. If someone says, "It's as hot as a furnace in this classroom!" they mean that it's extremely hot. Furnace comes from the Old French fornaise, "oven," with the Latin root word fornacem, "oven or kiln."
Vocabulary lists containing furnace
Mockingbird
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
A pipeline does not come with a furnace.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 28, 2026
“That gives us the ability to produce the highest quality steel that electric arc furnace producers have not been able to produce,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
Once the writing was finished, Seiler, an affiliate of Berkeley SETI, rolled up the papyrus, sealed it inside a container, placed it in a high-temperature furnace, and burned it until it was thoroughly carbonized.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 26, 2026
In Pressure, Stagg is thrown into a high-stakes furnace of egos.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026
Whole squad got more heat than a furnace.
From "On the Come Up" by Angie Thomas
The fuel is piped into homes for furnaces and boilers and also burned at power plants to generate electricity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026
In April last year, the government passed an emergency bill to take control of British Steel amid reports the then-owner Jingye was planning to switch off two blast furnaces in Scunthorpe.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
So does switching to renewable energy and electrifying energy use with EVs and heat pumps, which replace furnaces.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
"Above all, it is unclear who should cover the investment costs for installing the electric furnaces," he said.
From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026
I’m black because I work at the Limerick Gas Works shoveling coal and coke into the furnaces.
From "Angela's Ashes: A Memoir" by Frank McCourt
And the winds blew with excessive heat, as if warmed by the breath of sighs furnaced forth by travellers grieved at being separated from their wives.
From Tales of the Sun or Folklore of Southern India by Mrs. Howard Kingscote
Across a tract of furnaced flints there came a wind of water, From yellow banks with tender hints of Tethys' white-armed daughter.
From The Poems of Henry Kendall With Biographical Note by Bertram Stevens by Henry Kendall
There he lies and sleeps From year to year—in soft Australian nights, And through the furnaced noons, and in the times Of wind and wet!
From The Poems of Henry Kendall With Biographical Note by Bertram Stevens by Henry Kendall
Every word that he speaks has been fierily furnaced In the blast of a life that has struggled in earnest.
From Home Life of Great Authors by Hattie Tyng Griswold
Bake yourselves, kiln-dry yourselves, if you choose, in your furnaced houses at home, but, if you value your health, "reform that altogether" in Italy.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 05, No. 31, May, 1860 by Various
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