to emit or exhale, as fumes or vapor.
giant stacks fuming their sooty smoke.
to treat with or expose to fumes.
(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
(often plural) a pungent or toxic vapour
a sharp or pungent odour
a condition of anger
1350–1400; Middle English < Old French fum < Latin fūmus smoke, steam, fume
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.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In that incident, an Air Canada jet ran into an emergency vehicle on the runway that was racing to deal with a potential fume event on a United Airlines flight.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026
Angel now looks like Italy’s PM and parishioners fume.
From MarketWatch • Feb. 3, 2026
The effects of fume events are often fleeting, mild or present no symptoms at all.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 22, 2025
Reports of fume events have surged in recent years.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 22, 2025
A kind, good-hearted person might be touched that people are being so empathetic to the personal weather condition of others, but the more I hear it, the more I fume.
From "Saints and Misfits" by S.K. Ali
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.
