fizz
Americanverb (used without object)
noun
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a fizzing sound; effervescence.
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soda water or other effervescent water.
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an iced mixed drink made of liquor, lemon juice, sugar, and soda.
gin fizz.
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British Informal. champagne.
verb
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to make a hissing or bubbling sound
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(of a drink) to produce bubbles of carbon dioxide, either through fermentation or aeration
noun
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a hissing or bubbling sound
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the bubbly quality of a drink; effervescence
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any effervescent drink
Usage
What does fizz mean? Fizz is a bubbliness or bubbly quality, like the kind in a carbonated drink. A much more formal word for this is effervescence. Fizz can also refer to the kind of hissing sound that such bubbliness makes or to the kind of drink that’s known for having fizz, like soda (pop), seltzer, and soda water (which is sometimes called fizzwater). More specifically, the word fizz can refer to an alcoholic mixed drink containing liquor, fruit juice, sugar, and club soda. A classic example is a gin fizz. Fizz is also a British slang term for champagne, which is known for bubbliness (it’s sometimes called bubbly for the same reason). Fizz can also be used as a verb meaning to make a bubbling or hissing noise or to produce bubbles, as in That soda bottle may fizz a bit when you open it. Something that’s bubbly or fizzing can be described with the adjective fizzy. Example: I like how the fizz tickles my nose as I’m drinking.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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fizzsimple
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fizzessimple
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have fizzedperfect
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has fizzedperfect
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am fizzingprogressive
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are fizzingprogressive
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is fizzingprogressive
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have been fizzingperfect progressive
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has been fizzingperfect progressive
Past
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fizzedsimple
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had fizzedperfect
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was fizzingprogressive
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were fizzingprogressive
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had been fizzingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of fizz
First recorded in 1655–65; back formation from fizzle
Explanation
To fizz is to froth or bubble over. If you shake up a soda, it will fizz out of the bottle when you open it. When something fizzes, you hear a hissing sound as the tiny gas bubbles are released. Any carbonated beverage will fizz when it's opened or poured, the way seltzer fizzes in a glass, or beer fizzes and foams in a mug. The word fizz, which has been in use since the 1600s, is imitative — in other words, it sounds just like what it means.
Vocabulary lists containing fizz
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:
Soda syrup and carbonated water were kept just above freezing to trap more carbon dioxide and increase the fizz.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 13, 2026
Sadly, the song has all the fizz of a Capri Sun.
From BBC ● May 8, 2026
I’ve served Pol Roger Brut Réserve Champagne to die-hard Champagne lovers and those who aren’t big fans of fizz, and both have held out glasses for more.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 27, 2025
“As they melt, these Candies gently fizz on your tongue,” per TJ’s.
From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2025
Santoni played the organ, and during The Eyes of the Mummy, she got me so anxious with her scary music, I spilled my lemon fizz and everyone thought I wet my pants.
From "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool
Yann Martel’s novel contains deep tragedy while its tone fizzes with life.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026
This does not mean the trapped water glows or fizzes.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 22, 2025
Conor Hourihane and his cultured left-foot provide the opening with a lovely ball into the box, but Dwight Gayle can't get his angles right and it fizzes past the far post.
From BBC ● Mar. 12, 2024
For contrast, a gulpable yuzu highball fizzes citrusy-sweet.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 8, 2023
So we each get A fistful of sparklers, Firecrackers, A paper log cabin That smokes and fizzes, Rockets that shower sparks About the height Of the clothesline.
From "Neighborhood Odes" by Gary Soto
The edgy appeal of “Erupcja” is in the way it maps humans as molecules and electrons, fizzed by location, inspired by connection, driven to hover, fuse and release.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2026
Garnacho's run and cross teed up Palmer for a low strike that fizzed just wide from 10 yards.
From Barron's ● Dec. 3, 2025
For much of the first half Italy snapped and fizzed with more danger, throwing cleverer shapes and more accurate passes.
From BBC ● Mar. 9, 2025
Everton haven't had a single shot on target but Emma Bissell's strike which fizzed into the side-netting was probably the best chance of the match.
From BBC ● Mar. 23, 2024
The druggist, being one Walter Gripp, was astoundingly polite and fizzed one right up for him!
From "The Martian Chronicles" by Ray Bradbury
This version is easily the equal of the original: fizzing with humor, and infused with a tenderness and melancholy sympathy for all its characters, mostly members of a family from the so-called 1%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 19, 2026
The minds of these young people are alive and fizzing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 16, 2026
But just a few months later and the industry was fizzing with optimism again.
From BBC ● Jan. 6, 2025
Mead then goes for the half volley, fizzing the ball towards the far post, but it drifts a whisker wide of the target.
From BBC ● Apr. 27, 2024
At bedtime we’d shake a little baking soda into the palm of one hand, mix in a dash of hydrogen peroxide, then use our fingers to clean our teeth with the fizzing paste.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
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.
