fume
noun
Often fumes any smokelike or vaporous exhalation from matter or substances, especially of an odorous or harmful nature.
fume
1 American
[fyoom]
/ fjum /
noun
verb (used with object)
-
fumes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
fumed,
past participle, past
-
fuming
present participle
-
to emit or exhale, as fumes or vapor.
giant stacks fuming their sooty smoke.
-
to treat with or expose to fumes.
verb (used without object)
-
fumes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
fumed,
past participle, past
-
fuming
present participle
fumé
2
American
[fy -mey]
/ füˈmeɪ /
adjective
French.
fume
British
/ fjuːm /
verb
-
(intr) to be overcome with anger or fury; rage
-
to give off (fumes) or (of fumes) to be given off, esp during a chemical reaction
-
(tr) to subject to or treat with fumes; fumigate
noun
-
(often plural) a pungent or toxic vapour
-
a sharp or pungent odour
-
a condition of anger
fume
Scientific
/ fyo̅o̅m /
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
fumesimple
-
fumessimple
-
have fumedperfect
-
has fumedperfect
-
am fumingprogressive
-
are fumingprogressive
-
is fumingprogressive
-
have been fumingperfect progressive
-
has been fumingperfect progressive
Past
-
fumedsimple
-
had fumedperfect
-
was fumingprogressive
-
were fumingprogressive
-
had been fumingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of fume
1350–1400; Middle English < Old French fum < Latin fūmus smoke, steam, fume
Explanation
To fume is to feel or express great anger. You would fume if your teacher accused you of cheating when you didn't. As a verb, fume is usually used figuratively to mean "to feel very angry," whereas as a noun, it is used more as its Latin root fumus "smoke, steam, vapor." A strong-smelling gas, smoke or vapor is also called a fume. In cartoons, when a character is fuming, it is often drawn with fumes coming out of its ears. You may fume about the inconsiderate person who sits in the car with the engine running, spewing clouds of exhaust fumes.
Vocabulary lists containing fume
Instead of "Said": Vexed Verbiage to Express Anger
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Holes
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"Macbeth": Act 1 Scene 7
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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:
But if you’re honest, you also loved watching the guy dumb enough to buy it fume over the futility of his impulses.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026
"It's one thing to look at chemistry and a set of materials at the single cell level in a fume hood," said Bailey.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
Angel now looks like Italy’s PM and parishioners fume.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 3, 2026
In the most extreme cases, including Weiland’s, fume events have allegedly been fatal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 22, 2025
Pale mists shimmered in the great vale below: a wide gulf of silver fume, beneath which rolled the cool night-waters of the Anduin.
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
The deftly seared fillet sat atop an aromatic fumé of fennel, saffron and tomato.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 12, 2017
Among those cases was eight-year-old Luke Albiston-O'Donnell from Birkenhead, who died after inhaling toxic fumes from a house fire caused by an e-bike battery on charge in 2024.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
Josefa Ippolito-Shepherd, a senior who works as a public-health scientist, called a plumber when she started feeling sick from fumes in her Washington, D.C., home—a smell she described as “like feces.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
Another clear indication of a franchise running on fumes is that its most appealing element is now increasingly convoluted and tedious.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
And when outside, they tend to be closer to the ground and nearer sources of exhaust fumes, for example.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
The tendrils unfurled, exuding their stinky green fumes as they crept toward Frank’s feet.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
Years ago on “Rick and Morty,” President Andre Curtis fumed that he can’t coexist with Rick Sanchez, a living god who won’t submit to his will.
From Salon ● Jul. 25, 2026
He fumed when a group member suggested printing ‘Stop AI’ on purple shirts rather than red.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
Former England striker Gary Lineker wrote on X that it "might be the worst VAR decision I've seen... extraordinary given the significance" and McInnes fumed at the call afterwards.
From BBC ● May 13, 2026
"You can't close off a square to the workers of Turkey. Everyone uses Taksim, for official ceremonies, for celebrations. Only the labourers, the workers, the poor find the square closed to them," he fumed.
From Barron's ● May 1, 2026
As Raizel fumed in silence, he turned to me.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
Singer-songwriter Beth McCarthy tells Newsbeat she is "fuming" at the BBC Introducing stage being scrapped as she feels it is "such a foundation point of all festivals".
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
And he sure did, fuming at her publicly and privately for several days in a row.
From Slate ● Aug. 8, 2026
As we drove home, we were both fuming.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 1, 2026
The president is fuming at the justices as they prepare to take up his next big case.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 30, 2026
Gaw, Jemmy thought, he's fuming like a stovepipe at being un- princed.
From "The Whipping Boy" by Sid Fleischman
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.
