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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

fog.

A thick cloud that forms near the ground; the obscurity of such a cloud.

3 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/fɒɡ/Received-Pronunciation/fɔɡ//fɑɡ/General-American, cot-caught-merger, dialectal/fɒɡ/Canada, dialectal
  1. A thick cloud that forms near the ground; the obscurity of such a cloud.

    uncountable
    a bank of fog
  2. A mist or film clouding a surface.

    uncountable
  3. A state of mind characterized by lethargy and confusion.

    countable · figuratively · uncountable
    He did so many drugs, he was still in a fog three months after going through detox.
  4. A silver deposit or other blur on a negative or developed photographic image.

    countable · uncountable
  5. Distance fog.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Origin uncertain; but probably of North Germanic origin. Probably either a back-formation from foggy (“covered with tall grass; thick, marshy”), from the earlier-attested fog (“tall grass”) (see below), or from or related to Danish fog (“spray, shower, drift, storm”), related to Icelandic fok (“spray, any light thing tossed by the wind, snowdrift”), Icelandic fjúka (“to blow, drive”), from Proto-Germanic *feukaną (“to whisk, blow”), from Proto-Indo-European *pug- (“billow, bulge, drift”), from *pew-, *pow- (“to blow, drift, billow”), in which case related to German fauchen (“to hiss, spit, spray”).

verb/fɒɡ/Received-Pronunciation/fɔɡ//fɑɡ/General-American, cot-caught-merger, dialectal/fɒɡ/Canada, dialectal
  1. To become covered with or as if with fog.

    intransitive
  2. To become obscured in condensation or water.

    intransitive
    The mirror fogged every time he showered.
  3. To become dim or obscure.

    intransitive
  4. To make dim or obscure.

    transitive
  5. To spoil (film) via exposure to light other than in the normal process of taking a photograph.

    transitive
  6. To cover with or as if with fog.

    transitive
  7. To disperse insecticide into (a forest canopy) so as to collect organisms.

    transitive
  8. To obscure in condensation or water.

    transitive
  9. To make confusing or obscure.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

Origin uncertain; but probably of North Germanic origin. Probably either a back-formation from foggy (“covered with tall grass; thick, marshy”), from the earlier-attested fog (“tall grass”) (see below), or from or related to Danish fog (“spray, shower, drift, storm”), related to Icelandic fok (“spray, any light thing tossed by the wind, snowdrift”), Icelandic fjúka (“to blow, drive”), from Proto-Germanic *feukaną (“to whisk, blow”), from Proto-Indo-European *pug- (“billow, bulge, drift”), from *pew-, *pow- (“to blow, drift, billow”), in which case related to German fauchen (“to hiss, spit, spray”).

noun/fɒɡ/Received-Pronunciation/fɔɡ//fɑɡ/General-American, cot-caught-merger, dialectal/fɒɡ/Canada, dialectal
  1. A new growth of grass appearing on a field that has been mowed or grazed.

    uncountable
  2. Tall and decaying grass left standing after the cutting or grazing season.

    UK · dialectal · uncountable
  3. Moss.

    Scotland · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English fogge (“tall grass”), probably from Norwegian fogg (“tall, worthless grass”); compare Scots fog (“moss; lichen”).

verb/fɒɡ/Received-Pronunciation/fɔɡ//fɑɡ/General-American, cot-caught-merger, dialectal/fɒɡ/Canada, dialectal
  1. To pasture cattle on the fog (of), or aftergrass, of; to eat off the fog from (a field).

    transitive
  2. To become covered with the kind of grass called fog.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English fogge (“tall grass”), probably from Norwegian fogg (“tall, worthless grass”); compare Scots fog (“moss; lichen”).

verb/fɒɡ/Received-Pronunciation/fɔɡ//fɑɡ/General-American, cot-caught-merger, dialectal/fɒɡ/Canada, dialectal
  1. To practice in a small or mean way; to pettifog.

    intransitive · obsolete
Where this word comes from

Compare Old Dutch focker.

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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.