furnace
/ˈfɝnɪs/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.62 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A place or time of punishment, affliction, or great trial; severe experience or discipline.
verb
To heat in a furnace.
verb
To exhale like a furnace.
Example Sentences
- "Plans for the next phase include furnaces capable of inert atmospheres and partial vacuums."
- "HVAC services include furnace maintenance."
- "The busy kitchen became a sweltering furnace."
- "forged in the furnace of fierce competition"
- "For the Lorde toke you and broughte you out of the yernen fornace of Egipte, to be vnto him a people of enheritaunce, as it is come to paſſe this daye."
- "For that heroic band—those children of the furnace who, in regions like Texas and Tennessee, maintained their fidelity through terrible trials—we of the North felt for them, and profoundly we honor them."
Etymology
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.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈfɝnɪs/
- British English: /ˈfɜːnɪs/
Usage
- Canadian usage
- American usage
- Colloquial