Fuse

/fjuːz/ · noun

Meaning

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

Definitions by Sense

1. A wick or cord used to convey flame to gunpowder, a bomb, or similar explosive.
2. (cellular automata) 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. (manufacturing, mining, military, sometimes proscribed) Alternative spelling of fuze, a detonator, any mechanism igniting an explosive substance or device.
4. (figurative) A tendency to lose one's temper.
5. A kind of match for starting a fire:
6. To furnish with a fuse, to install a fuse on.
7. (military, mining, manufacturing, sometimes proscribed) Alternative spelling of fuze, to equip with a detonator.
8. (electrical engineering) 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.

Example Sentences

The Government, having lit the fuse, is not going to be allowed to flee the explosion.

When talking about being laid off, he has a short fuse.

Pure sodium is a lustrous metal... it fuses very easily at a temperature of 97°, and distils at a bright red heat (742°...)

That each, who seems a separate whole, Should move his rounds, and fusing all The skirts of self again, should fall Remerging in the general Soul, Is faith as vague as all unsweet: […]

All these were based broadly on the management framework of the old companies, except that the former Southern and North Eastern Areas of the old L.N.E.R. became separate management units, while the former L.M.S.R. and L.N.E.R. lines north of the Border were fused into a self-contained Scottish Region.

Actually the New York, New Haven and Hartford, Boston & Maine, Maine Central, Bangor & Aroostook and Rutland Railroads already are doing so; if they are fused, they would have a combined route mileage of 5,269 and assets totalling £318 million, [...].

When the bath overflowed, the downstairs lights fused, so we need a torch.

Synonyms for fuse

Antonyms for fuse

Related Words

Word Forms

• fuses
• fusing
• fused

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

Practice and Learn More

Frequently Asked Questions