ferment. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

ferment

SYLLABICATION:	fer·ment
PRONUNCIATION:	fûrmnt
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 (fr-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


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.