ferment
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To stir up, agitate, cause unrest or excitement in.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
fermehntSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
fɚˈmɛnt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
To react, using fermentation; especially to produce alcohol by aging or by allowing yeast to act on sugars; to brew.
To stir up, agitate, cause unrest or excitement in.
noun
A gentle internal motion of the constituent parts of a fluid; fermentation.
A state of agitation or turbulent change or development
“The political ferment produced new leadership.”
Something, such as a yeast or barm, that causes fermentation.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To react, using fermentation; especially to produce alcohol by aging or by allowing yeast to act on sugars; to brew.
Used this way, ferment is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use ferment
- “We ferment the grapes for a very long time to achieve high alcohol content.”verb
- “The political ferment produced new leadership.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Other combinations
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Brewer's yeast used in top fermentation of ale.
Brewer's yeast used in bottom fermentation of lager.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
The intoxicating agent in fermented and distilled liquors.
A violent kind of alcoholic fermentation at a temperature high enough to carry the yeast cells to the top of the fermenting liquid.
A slow kind of alcoholic fermentation at a temperature low enough that the yeast cells can sink to the bottom of the fermenting liquid.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.