fuzz
1 Americannoun
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loose, light, fibrous, or fluffy matter.
-
a mass or coating of such matter.
the fuzz on a peach.
-
Slang. a man's very short haircut, similar to a crew cut.
-
a blur.
That photo is all fuzz.
-
a distorted sound from an electric musical instrument, especially a guitar, produced by means of an electronic device.
verb (used with or without object)
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fuzzes,
present (3rd person singular)
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fuzzed,
past participle, past
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fuzzing
present participle
noun
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fuzz,
plural
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fuzzes
plural
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Usually the fuzz the police; police officers collectively.
The fuzz were called by a neighbor and three policeman showed up.
-
a police officer or detective.
Fuzzes caught the burglar trying to escape through the back alley.
noun
-
a mass or covering of fine or curly hairs, fibres, etc
-
a blur
verb
-
to make or become fuzzy
-
to make or become indistinct; blur
noun
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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fuzzsimple
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fuzzessimple
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have fuzzedperfect
-
has fuzzedperfect
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am fuzzingprogressive
-
are fuzzingprogressive
-
is fuzzingprogressive
-
have been fuzzingperfect progressive
-
has been fuzzingperfect progressive
Past
-
fuzzedsimple
-
had fuzzedperfect
-
was fuzzingprogressive
-
were fuzzingprogressive
-
had been fuzzingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of fuzz1
First recorded in 1595–1605; origin uncertain; perhaps a back formation from fuzzy ( def. ); compare Dutch voos “spongy, woolly”
Origin of fuzz2
An Americanism dating back to 1920–25; of uncertain origin
Explanation
Fuzz is a downy or hair patch of fibers. Most kids love to blow the fuzz off of a dandelion. The furry growth on your cactus plant is fuzz, and so is your sister's frizzy hair and your cousin's patchy attempt at sideburns. You can also call an unfocused, blurry image fuzz: "I was so tired that there was fuzz at the edges of my vision." Informally, some people refer to police officers as fuzz too, a usage that dates from 1920s US gangster slang.
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:
Liberty Mutual worked with Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, reviewing six characters and over 160 ad concepts, before settling on the final fuzz ball, she said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
"They're much less hairy than other pigs - Rana had ginger fuzz when she was born, but that's gone now," she said.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
These hairs resemble the fine, short, light colored vellus hairs that cover much of the human body, commonly known as peach fuzz.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 14, 2026
The instrument also paved the way to an aesthetics of electricity—feedback, distortion, fuzz, sheer volume—that led to such genres as heavy metal, punk, grunge and shoegaze.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 14, 2026
Above him, in the dimness, a nine-foot-long queen bee, with multiple eyes and golden fuzz on her abdomen, curls across the ceiling.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
Jones and Corden explained that the idea was for the tape to play and just as viewers brace for the big reveal, the footage fuzzes out and jams.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2025
That fuzzes up the rationale for being restrictive about what can happen near one but not the other.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 4, 2022
The silkscreen process fuzzes the scene, while a mechanically produced grid interrupts any easy perceptions of naturalism.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 14, 2016
Musically, it's hardly unfamiliar – weeping Americana, backed with fuzzes of electric guitar and organ that slide in and out of focus, discomfiting and discombobulating – but expertly done.
From The Guardian ● May 2, 2013
"You've done a deal more to them fuzzes than what you have to me, seemin'ly," she said.
From Lying Prophets by Eden Phillpotts
Their skin is thick with tight fuzzed hair, which makes it less amenable to bloodsucking insects like mosquitoes.
From National Geographic ● Jan. 24, 2024
Theoretically, Funkadelic immerse themselves in fuzzed guitar freak-outs, while Parliament tilt towards the dancefloor, but much of First Ya Gotta Shake the Gate, although released as Funkadelic, could easily be Parliament material.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 29, 2016
Mapplethorpe's skull-like face is gently fuzzed, slightly out of focus, as if a phantom hovering in the background.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 3, 2016
Khamenei has fuzzed this commitment at the very moment it needs to become sharper.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 25, 2015
She should have realized that, but her anxiety to get the money and get going had fuzzed her common sense.
From "The Great Gilly Hopkins" by Katherine Paterson
Further fuzzing up the situation are reports that Kent was under FBI investigation for leaks at the time of his resignation.
From Slate ● Mar. 21, 2026
Showing packed shelves celebrates that, while fuzzing the books to make them unreadable also dissolves any preconceptions they contain.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 7, 2023
A new system of fuzzing out some data to protect the privacy of respondents could further complicate attempts to assess the survey’s accuracy at smaller geographic levels.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 13, 2021
His efforts invite you deeper into the medium as a physical discipline while fuzzing the boundaries that separate it from other forms of pictorial expression.
From New York Times ● Jan. 27, 2011
Tam smiles back, love fuzzing all over his Noise.
From "The Knife of Never Letting Go" by Patrick Ness
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.
