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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

furnace.

An industrial heating device, such as for smelting metal or firing ceramics.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈfɝnɪs/General-American/ˈfɜːnɪs/Received-Pronunciation
  1. An industrial heating device, such as for smelting metal or firing ceramics.

    Plans for the next phase include furnaces capable of inert atmospheres and partial vacuums.
  2. A device that provides heat for a building.

    Canada · US
    HVAC services include furnace maintenance.
  3. Any area that is excessively hot.

    colloquial · figuratively
    The busy kitchen became a sweltering furnace.
  4. A place or time of punishment, affliction, or great trial; severe experience or discipline.

    figuratively
    forged in the furnace of fierce competition
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰer- Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰr̥nós Proto-Italic *xʷornos Proto-Italic *fornos Latin fornus Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂ks Proto-Italic *-āks Latin -āx Latin fornāx Old French fornaisbor. Middle English forneys English furnace Inherited from Middle English forneys, borrowed from Old French fornais, from Latin fornāx.

verb/ˈfɝnɪs/General-American/ˈfɜːnɪs/Received-Pronunciation
  1. To heat in a furnace.

  2. To exhale like a furnace.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰer- Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰr̥nós Proto-Italic *xʷornos Proto-Italic *fornos Latin fornus Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂ks Proto-Italic *-āks Latin -āx Latin fornāx Old French fornaisbor. Middle English forneys English furnace Inherited from Middle English forneys, borrowed from Old French fornais, from Latin fornāx.

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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.