| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| ferment |
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| SYLLABICATION: | fer·ment |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  fûr m nt |
| NOUN: | 1. Something, such as a yeast, bacterium, mold, or enzyme, that causes fermentation. 2. Fermentation. 3a. A state of agitation or of turbulent change or development. b. An agent that precipitates or is capable of precipitating such a state; a catalyst. | | VERB: | Inflected forms: fer·ment·ed, fer·ment·ing, fer·ments
(f r-mnt) | | TRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To produce by or as if by fermentation. 2. To cause to undergo fermentation. 3. To make turbulent; excite or agitate. | | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To undergo fermentation. 2. To be in an excited or agitated state; seethe. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English, from Old French, from Latin fermentum. See bhreu- in Appendix I. | | OTHER FORMS: | fer·menta·bili·ty —NOUN
fer·menta·ble —ADJECTIVE
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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