belch
Americanverb (used without object)
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belches,
present (3rd person singular)
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belched,
past participle, past
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belching
present participle
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to eject stomach gas noisily from the mouth; burp.
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to emit contents violently, such as a gun, geyser, or volcano.
The volcano belched ominously while the town was evacuated.
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to gush forth.
Fire and smoke belched from the dragon's mouth.
verb (used with object)
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belches,
present (3rd person singular)
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belched,
past participle, past
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belching
present participle
noun
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belches
plural
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an ejection of stomach gas from the mouth.
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a violent emittance of flame, smoke, gas, etc.
verb
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(usually intr) to expel wind from the stomach noisily through the mouth; eructate
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to expel or be expelled forcefully from inside
smoke belching from factory chimneys
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to say (curses, insults, etc) violently or bitterly
noun
Usage
What does belch mean? A belch is the often noisy instance of stomach gas being released through the mouth. It often happens after you eat or especially after you drink a bubbly drink like soda. Belch can also be used as a verb meaning to release gas in such a way, as in I belched right in the middle of the meeting—it was so embarrassing. Belching is common and normal, but it’s often considered rude to belch in public, especially to do so loudly. It’s typically considered the polite thing to do to try to cover up a belch. A synonym for both the noun and verb sense of belch is burp, which is more informal. The technical medical term for belching or a belch is eructation. The verb form of this is eruct. Belch is also sometimes used in a figurative way in the context of a thing releasing gas or air or something else, especially in a messy way. A volcano can be said to belch out fumes (and such fumes can be said to be belching out of it). Example: My grandfather loved to conclude his dinner by unleashing a loud belch to signal his satisfaction.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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belchsimple
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belchessimple
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have belchedperfect
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has belchedperfect
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am belchingprogressive
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are belchingprogressive
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is belchingprogressive
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have been belchingperfect progressive
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has been belchingperfect progressive
Past
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belchedsimple
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had belchedperfect
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was belchingprogressive
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were belchingprogressive
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had been belchingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of belch
First recorded before 1000; Middle English belchen, Old English bealcettan; cognate with Dutch balken, belken to bray; perhaps extended form akin to bell 2, bellow
Vocabulary lists containing belch
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:
Behind them the water is a luminescent strip of blue, abutting a silhouetted skyline in which many of the buildings belch smoke; a few of the industrial structures spew fire.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Most forms of air conditioning are highly energy-intensive and, depending on its power source, can belch even more carbon into the atmosphere, trapping more of the sun’s heat and causing more intense heat waves.
From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2026
Those same people are now basking in the delight of watching online trolls spiral as they belch “terrorist” while reckoning with his likelihood to win the mayorship in November.
From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2025
These landfills also belch methane, a powerful, planet-warming gas, on average at almost three times the rate reported to federal regulators, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science.
From New York Times ● Mar. 28, 2024
Travis let loose a rip-roaring belch that had us both giggling uncontrollably.
From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly
Since June, Boyadzhyan has set off the horn in long belches in the late afternoon or at night, according to neighbors on Peach Avenue, an otherwise quiet residential area.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2025
At any given moment, Earth’s closest star belches fast, blisteringly hot particles known as the solar wind into space.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 31, 2022
To get there, the ship barreled over Kick ’Em Jenny, an active underwater volcano that occasionally belches gases so dangerous that boats must change course.
From New York Times ● Dec. 27, 2022
The Indonesian island of Java’s tallest volcano, Semeru, sent an ash cloud nearly a mile into the air this week—the latest uptick in unrest from a mountain that belches ash and volcanic gases almost constantly.
From Scientific American ● Dec. 6, 2022
Paper airplanes, loud belches, high-pitched, ghostly moans followed by stifled giggles—it drives Mr. Curran mad that he cannot pick out one boy to punish for all this.
From "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline
On the train journey through steel country, he watched with awe the huge industrial furnaces that belched smoke and fire.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
Sections of charred scaffolding fell from the burning apartment blocks in hellish scenes late on Wednesday, as flames inside apartments sometimes belched out through windows into a night sky that glowed orange.
From Barron's ● Nov. 27, 2025
In recent episodes, Bercow’s oratorial prowess came into full flower, as he belched forth merciless diatribes that made several bystanders go cross-eyed.
From Salon ● Feb. 24, 2024
Last year, a regrettably named trend belched up from the dark cauldron of TikTok: bed rotting.
From New York Times ● Feb. 17, 2024
Ignatius belched the gas of a dozen brownies trapped by his valve.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
With black smoke belching high into the sky, Lobga staggers some 90 seconds before collapsing in flames and a U.N. security guard rushes over blasting an extinguisher.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
In October, video was widely shared of flames belching from the overhead storage compartment of an Air China flight, reportedly caused by a lithium battery.
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
AFP journalists heard blasts in Bahrain's capital Manama, and saw black smoke belching from a major oil terminal in the United Arab Emirates port city of Fujairah.
From Barron's ● Mar. 15, 2026
But he’s also puckish – sylph-like and otherworldly, seductive and repellent, as likely to swaddle Sarah in her heart’s desire as he is to toss her into the belching, farting Bog of Eternal Stench.
From Salon ● Jan. 24, 2026
I wolfed down three of the sandwiches, belching loudly to punctuate my victory.
From "Three Little Words: A Memoir" by Ashley Rhodes-Courter
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.
