fart
Americannoun
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farts
plural
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a release of intestinal gas through the anus; a flatus.
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an irritating or foolish person.
verb (used without object)
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farts,
present (3rd person singular)
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farted,
past participle, past
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farting
present participle
verb phrase
noun
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an emission of intestinal gas from the anus, esp an audible one
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a contemptible person
verb
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to expel intestinal gas from the anus; to break wind
-
-
to behave foolishly or aimlessly
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to waste time
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Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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fartsimple
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fartssimple
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have fartedperfect
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has fartedperfect
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am fartingprogressive
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are fartingprogressive
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is fartingprogressive
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have been fartingperfect progressive
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has been fartingperfect progressive
Past
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fartedsimple
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had fartedperfect
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was fartingprogressive
-
were fartingprogressive
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had been fartingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of fart
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English ferten, farten (verb), fert, fart (noun); cognate with Greek pérdein (verb), pordḗ (noun)
Explanation
We don’t all like to admit it, but we all fart. That is, we all pass smelly gas out of our anus. Kids — and a few adults too — find farting funny. If someone lets out a long fart during church or class, someone is bound to laugh. However, the teacher probably won’t laugh, and the culprit could be in big trouble. Be careful about accusing others of farting, because one of the oldest rules of the schoolyard is “He who smelt it, dealt it.” A less slangy word for fart is flatulence.
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:
“Our lives are very normal, and we’re grounded family people. At the end of the day, we come home, our kids fart on Tom’s head, and I make dinner.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
Did he just have a brain fart and forget that Gov. Janet Mills dropped out of the primary?
From Slate ● May 30, 2026
Hall, frustrated, told his colleagues, “I bet if I fart on it, it will work.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026
Faison: I’m not trying to make a fart joke.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2026
Some fiercely resisted these changes; but the fart was that we were now an illegal organization.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
The RFU council - famously described by then England captain Will Carling in 1995 as "57 old farts" - is in the process of being reformed.
From BBC ● Jun. 9, 2026
They sleep in the same bed and complain about each other’s farts.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 14, 2024
“And then Adrienne flipped to the next screen and it was an older woman with no teeth who’s singing into a microphone and then farts into it,” he says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 15, 2024
These sensory deficits can be helpful in some respects, though, because the I.S.S. tends to smell like body odor or farts.
From New York Times ● Nov. 12, 2023
Age set in and she limped about the house, clearing rooms with her suffocating farts.
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
“I farted in the supermarket,” comedian Jordan Conley read from a piece of paper he’d drawn from the box.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 26, 2026
But back on set the following day, the Swansea-born actor said she then "farted in front of him", adding: "I was mortified."
From BBC ● Feb. 11, 2026
“If I farted, I would have definitely been laughing, because farts are always funny,” she added.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 17, 2022
I ask because I saw a lot of people on Twitter say that they would have farted in Roger Goodell’s chair.
From Slate ● Apr. 30, 2021
The weasel barked and farted and scampered into the nearest bushes.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
Perhaps he pictured a shared meal, clinking glasses and maybe a nostalgic movie on the sofa before comfortably sinking into slumber and loud farting.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
Ethan Dang, a Vanderbilt University freshman, joked that a fellow student bet $4,000 on Polymarket on somebody farting during a speech by President Trump.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 6, 2026
The Galacticoaster, after all, has a farting space cow.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 6, 2026
Methane expelled by livestock belching and farting contributes about 15% of global emissions each year, UN estimates show.
From BBC ● Jan. 27, 2025
On the hill, the old ruins stood white and silent—no sign of ancient paths, or goddesses, or farting weasels.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
