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
-
fartedsimple
-
had fartedperfect
-
was fartingprogressive
-
were fartingprogressive
-
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:
Zimmer: Was there a fart joke in there, though?
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 2026
Did he just have a brain fart and forget that Gov. Janet Mills dropped out of the primary?
From Slate ● May 30, 2026
But do you know how when you fart, it always sounds like a question mark.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2026
Hall, frustrated, told his colleagues, “I bet if I fart on it, it will work.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026
“Even if I am fast enough to circle the block before the smell catches up with my fart, I still wasn’t here last night, and I still haven’t even visited this insane asylum since Christmas.”
From "Confessions of a Murder Suspect" by James Patterson
“Do you have boys in here? ... Boys talk about farts all the time,” Curtis said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 11, 2026
"The most beautiful moment - which is so magnificent and marvellous and dreamy - and yet, it smells of farts."
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2025
They sleep in the same bed and complain about each other’s farts.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 14, 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
I always did that, like always, and then I had a trauma because once I was singing and, without doing it on purpose, I farted!
From BBC ● May 7, 2023
“I have never farted once on this show. As a matter of fact, I barely fart,” she told viewers.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 17, 2022
“The fact that I farted in front of Prince” should be motivation enough to listen to the book, Newman said, her lilting voice striking a wry note.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 16, 2021
He leaned back, farted once, burped twice and gave a mighty scratch in an area most parents urge toddlers not to touch in public.
From "Lawn Boy Returns" by Gary Paulsen
The Galacticoaster, after all, has a farting space cow.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 6, 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
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
“Blazing Saddles,” a western about racism, with farting, followed “The Twelve Chairs,” an underappreciated, serious sort of comedy and a tonal anomaly in his canon.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 22, 2026
She hated the idea worse than she hated that farting weasel, worse than she hated Sciron’s feet.
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.
