fumigate
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
fumigatesimple
-
fumigatessimple
-
have fumigatedperfect
-
has fumigatedperfect
-
am fumigatingprogressive
-
are fumigatingprogressive
-
is fumigatingprogressive
-
have been fumigatingperfect progressive
-
has been fumigatingperfect progressive
Past
-
fumigatedsimple
-
had fumigatedperfect
-
was fumigatingprogressive
-
were fumigatingprogressive
-
had been fumigatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of fumigate
First recorded in 1520–30; from Latin fūmigātus, past participle of fūmigāre “to smoke, fumigate,” equivalent to fūm(us) “smoke” + -igāre, combining form of agere “to drive, do”
Explanation
To fumigate is to spray something with fumes, usually to eliminate pests of some kind. A fume is a type of smoke or other gaseous substance, and fumigation is when fumes are used to treat something. Most of the time, a house is fumigated because it has pests in it. If you have cockroaches or bedbugs, you might need to fumigate. Fumigating is a gaseous chemical attack that kills pests and is also dangerous to people and pets, so people clear out before fumigating takes places. The person who fumigates is usually an exterminator.
Vocabulary lists containing fumigate
Tangerine
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The Odyssey
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The First Rule of Punk
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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:
In response the Salvation Army told BBC News NI: "As soon as bed bugs were reported at Centenary House, we took immediate action to fumigate".
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2025
"Some people fumigate every three to five years because it doesn't protect structures from future infestations."
From Science Daily ● May 31, 2024
In 2004, chemical manufacturers began to phase out methyl bromide, another chemical widely used to fumigate soils, because it harms Earth’s ozone layer.
From Science Magazine ● May 25, 2023
Instead of trying to fumigate away the dangers lurking in the soil each year, growers can throw out last year’s substrate and put in a new batch.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2022
He hired a chemical company to fumigate the fields.
From "Breaking Through" by Francisco Jiménez
The Paul W. Bryant Hall at the University of Alabama offers all these features plus arcade games and a climate-controlled room that fumigates players’ shoes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 28, 2016
Photographer Juan Barreto captured a Health Ministry employee as he fumigates inside a church in Caracas, Venezuela, on Feb. 5.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 26, 2016
It’s only after the narrator confronts a sickly vaporous entity, and fumigates the basement with chemicals, that the property becomes safe for habitation.
From Slate ● Oct. 30, 2015
Noack objects that when Odysseus fumigates his house, after slaying the Wooers, he thus treats the megaron, AND the doma, AND the courtyard.
From Homer and His Age by Lang, Andrew
There's been 'flu' at school, so they've sent some of us off while Matron fumigates the rooms.
From Monitress Merle by Brazil, Angela
Trump even fumigated his property in Mar-a-Lago after Cohn visited for a birthday dinner shortly before his death.
From Salon ● Oct. 6, 2024
“Fruit from infested countries must be fumigated before it enters the state, but frequently untreated fruit is carried in by the mail and by passengers,” the agency website says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 25, 2024
Miske even fumigated a Honolulu concert hall for free after the city couldn’t afford the $200,000 estimate, Kennedy said.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 22, 2024
An inquest heard the next-door room had been fumigated following a report of a bedbug infestation.
From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2023
Despite the colonel’s disdainful attitude, the cells were soon painted and fumigated and we were supplied with fresh blankets and sanitary pails.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Ethylene oxide is used for several purposes in industry, including as a fumigating agent for spices.
From BBC ● Apr. 27, 2024
“We do it when the students are not at school,” he said of fumigating.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 12, 2024
They’ve also shown that, when given access to cotton balls dipped in insecticide, the finches will build nests with them—essentially fumigating their own nests in the process.
From National Geographic ● Feb. 15, 2024
When questioned about the garbage this week, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said authorities are fumigating the city to prevent disease, and would deal with the problem.
From Reuters ● Nov. 11, 2023
On Saturdays, he has a second job fumigating apartments in Spanish Harlem.
From "Lucky Broken Girl" by Ruth Behar
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.
