overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

fuse.

A wick or cord used to convey flame to gunpowder, a bomb, or similar explosive.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/fjuːz/
  1. A wick or cord used to convey flame to gunpowder, a bomb, or similar explosive.

  2. An otherwise stable arbitrarily long repeating pattern that, when perturbed from one end, destructively carries that perturbation at a constant speed to the other end.

  3. Alternative spelling of fuze, a detonator, any mechanism igniting an explosive substance or device.

    alt-of · alternative · proscribed · sometimes
  4. A tendency to lose one's temper.

    figuratively
    When talking about being laid off, he has a short fuse.
  5. A kind of match for starting a fire: A friction match for smokers' use, having a bulbous head which when ignited is not easily blown out even in a gale of wind.

  6. A kind of match for starting a fire: A match made of paper impregnated with niter and having the usual igniting tip.

Where this word comes from

From Italian fuso and French fusée, from Latin fūsus (“spindle”).

verb/fjuːz/
  1. To furnish with a fuse, to install a fuse on.

  2. Alternative spelling of fuze, to equip with a detonator.

    alt-of · alternative · proscribed · sometimes
Where this word comes from

From Italian fuso and French fusée, from Latin fūsus (“spindle”).

noun/fjuːz/
  1. A device to prevent excessive overcurrent from overload or short circuit in an electrical circuit, containing a component that melts and interrupts the current when too high a load is passed through it.

Where this word comes from

Back-formation from fusion (“to melt”), first to verbal sense, then noun.

verb/fjuːz/
  1. To liquify by heat; melt.

    transitive
  2. To melt together; to blend; to mix indistinguishably.

    transitive
    sensations and ideas fusing intimately together
  3. To melt together.

    intransitive
  4. To combine through nuclear fusion.

    ergative
  5. To furnish with or install a fuse in (a circuit) to protect against overcurrent.

    transitive
  6. To stop operating, having been protected against overcurrent by its fuse blowing.

    intransitive
    When the bath overflowed, the downstairs lights fused, so we need a torch.
  7. To form a bicyclic compound from two similar or different types of ring such that two or more atoms are shared between the resulting rings.

Where this word comes from

Back-formation from fusion (“to melt”), first to verbal sense, then noun.

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

fuse has 4 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

fuse studiofuse workshello, fuse

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

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.