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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

foam.

A substance composed of a large collection of bubbles or their solidified remains, especially

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈfəʊ̯m/Received-Pronunciation[ˈfəʊ̯m]Received-Pronunciation/ˈfɔʊ̯m/General-American[ˈfɔʊ̯m]General-American

  1. A substance composed of a large collection of bubbles or their solidified remains, especially

    countable · uncountable

  2. A substance composed of a large collection of bubbles or their solidified remains, especially: A collection of small bubbles created when the surface of a body of water is moved by tides, wind, etc.

    countable · uncountable

  3. A substance composed of a large collection of bubbles or their solidified remains, especially: A collection of small bubbles formed from bodily fluids such as saliva or sweat.

    countable · uncountable

  4. A substance composed of a large collection of bubbles or their solidified remains, especially: A collection of small bubbles on the surface of a liquid that is heated, fermented or carbonated.

    countable · uncountable

  5. A substance composed of a large collection of bubbles or their solidified remains, especially: A collection of small bubbles created by mixing soap with water.

    countable · uncountable

  6. A substance composed of a large collection of bubbles or their solidified remains, especially: A collection of small bubbles formed by mixing an extinguishing agent with water, used to cover and extinguish fires.

    countable · uncountable

  7. A substance composed of a large collection of bubbles or their solidified remains, especially: A food prepared in the form of a mass of airy bubbles.

    countable · uncountable
    His specialty is a mango foam.

  8. A material formed by trapping pockets of gas in a liquid or solid.

    countable · uncountable
    A foam mat can soften a hard seat.

  9. The sea.

    countable · figuratively · poetic · uncountable
    He is in Europe, across the foam.

  10. Fury, rage, ire.

    countable · uncountable

  11. Sneakers.

    countable · in-plural · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English fom, foom, from Old English fām, from Proto-West Germanic *faim, from Proto-Germanic *faimaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)poHy-m-os, from *(s)poH(y)- (“foam”). Cognate with German Feim (“foam”), Latin spūma (“foam”), Latin pūmex (“pumice”), Sanskrit फेन (phéna, “foam”), possibly Northern Kurdish fê (“epilepsy”).

verb/ˈfəʊ̯m/Received-Pronunciation[ˈfəʊ̯m]Received-Pronunciation/ˈfɔʊ̯m/General-American[ˈfɔʊ̯m]General-American

  1. To form or emit foam.

    intransitive

  2. To spew saliva as foam; to foam at the mouth.

    intransitive

  3. To coat or cover with foam.

    It used to be common practice to foam the runway prior to an emergency landing, in case a fuel-fed fire occurred.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English fom, foom, from Old English fām, from Proto-West Germanic *faim, from Proto-Germanic *faimaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)poHy-m-os, from *(s)poH(y)- (“foam”). Cognate with German Feim (“foam”), Latin spūma (“foam”), Latin pūmex (“pumice”), Sanskrit फेन (phéna, “foam”), possibly Northern Kurdish fê (“epilepsy”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.