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
However, exposures have led to diagnoses of brain injury, while families of some crew have blamed fume events for life-threatening illnesses, the Journal has reported.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 23, 2025
And for five hundred years, Glerk continued to fume.
From "The Girl Who Drank the Moon" by Kelly Barnhill
The deftly seared fillet sat atop an aromatic fumé of fennel, saffron and tomato.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 12, 2017
A huge area at the border has been blanketed by a thick plume of yellowish smoke, with fumes detected as far as eastern France, where authorities issued an air-pollution alert.
From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026
She works mostly under a hood, which vents the chemical and fecal fumes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
Jobs at shopping centres were ruled out because of the fumes from restaurants, and even in smaller environments her colleagues' eating habits could affect her.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
Ashley Hernandez, a Wilmington resident and organizer with the nonprofit Communities for a Better Environment, said bloody noses and noxious fumes were a regular part of life in the neighborhood growing up.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2026
Mini would probably be concerned that the whole room was full of toxic fumes.
From "Aru Shah and the End of Time" by Roshani Chokshi
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
Then, at the regular Senate Republican Conference lunch on Aug. 6, 1974, Goldwater fumed, “There are only so many lies you can take, and now there has been one too many.”
From Salon ● May 8, 2026
From his second-floor apartment that overlooked a stretch of road in Sylmar lined with broken-down RV’s, Vincent Wolf fumed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 11, 2026
You fumed while waiting for another train, but one came along eventually.
From "The Sun Is Also a Star" by Nicola Yoon
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
Harry Maguire's special day - following his England recall - was spoiled by his sending off at Vitality Stadium, but it was the performance of the officials that had United fuming.
From BBC ● Mar. 20, 2026
“But it didn’t have to happen,” Grandma went on, fuming.
From "As Brave As You" by Jason Reynolds
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.
