ferment means something, such as a yeast or barm, that causes fermentation. It carries an Arena rating of 1643, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, ferment ranks #912 of 14,308 for Most Malleable Words, #2,328 of 14,438 for Most Storied Words, #2,340 of 14,361 for Most Ingenious Words, #2,374 of 14,451 for Most Whimsical Words.
ferment is pronounced /ˈfɜː.mɛnt/.
Why “ferment” is a great word
A state of chemical conversion—usually the action of yeast or bacteria—or a corresponding state of excited and often turbulent activity. From Middle English ferment, from Middle French ferment, from Latin fermentum ('substance causing fermentation, leaven'), possibly from *fervimentum, from fervēre ('to boil, seethe'). Unlike 'foment,' which coldly incites political discord, or 'brew,' which describes the deliberate crafting of a beverage, 'ferment' implies an inherent, organic turbulence from within. It is the unseen, eager bubbling in a crock of new cabbage, the low murmur of ideas in a crowded café before a revolution, and the slow, sweet rot that turns fallen apples into hard cider—the universal principle that transformation requires a necessary, and often messy, unrest.
Etymology
From Middle English ferment, from Middle French ferment, from Latin fermentāre (“to leaven, ferment”), from fermentum (“substance causing fermentation”), possibly from contraction of *fervimentum, from fervēre. See also fervent.
noun
- Something, such as a yeast or barm, that causes fermentation.
- A state of agitation or of turbulent change.“Subdue and cool the ferment of desire.”
- A gentle internal motion of the constituent parts of a fluid; fermentation.“A Rage of Pleaſure madden'd every Breaſt, / Down to the loweſt Lees the Ferment ran: [...]”
- A catalyst.
verb
- To react, using fermentation; especially to produce alcohol by aging or by allowing yeast to act on sugars; to brew.“The cleanup job would turn out to be possibly second only to body-recovery duty in terms of being a job that nobody wanted to get assigned to. Imagine, for a moment, a thick soup of oil, paper, ink, clothing, raw meat and other fresh provisions, and worse, that had all been left to collect together in semi-warm water, all enclosed in a large metal container that had then been subjected to heating ”
- To stir up, agitate, cause unrest or excitement in.“Ye vigorous swains! while youth ferments your blood.”
Words closest in meaning
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