foment
English
WOTD – 25 June 2007
Etymology
From Middle English fomenten, a borrowing from Old French fomenter[1], from Late Latin fomentare, from Latin fōmentum (“lotion”), from fovere (“heat, cherish”).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /fəʊˈmɛnt/
- (US) IPA(key): /foʊˈmɛnt/, /fəˈmɛnt/
Audio (US) (file) - Homophone: ferment (in some dialects, unstressed)
Verb
foment (third-person singular simple present foments, present participle fomenting, simple past and past participle fomented)
- To incite or cause troublesome acts; to encourage; to instigate.
- He was arrested for fomenting a riot; after all, it's bad enough being in a riot but starting one is much worse.
- Foreign governments have tried to foment unrest.
- (medicine) To apply a poultice to; to bathe with a cloth or sponge.
- Synonym: beath
- 1904, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Abbey Grange, Norton (2005), page 1178,
- The maid had entered with us, and began once more to foment the bruise upon her mistress's brow.
Derived terms
Translations
to incite or cause
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Noun
foment (plural foments)
- Fomentation.
- Julian Ralph
- He came in no conciliatory mood, and the foment was kept up.
- Julian Ralph
References
- “foment” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.
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