noun · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
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Received-Pronunciation:/ˈfɜːvə/
British, Southern, Standard:/ˈfəːvə/
General-American:/ˈfɝ.vɚ/
US:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
Scotland:/fɛɾvəɾ/
New-Zealand, Wales:/føːvə/
/feːvə/Liverpool, fair–fur merger
/fɛːvə/Humberside, Teesside, fair–fur merger
homophone: further (th-fronting, fern–fir–fur merger)
CMU ARPABET:F ER1 V ER0
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
An intense, heated emotion; passion, ardor.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: US, countable, uncountable
Examples
The coach trains his water polo team with fervor.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
A passionate enthusiasm for some cause.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: US, countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
Heat.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: US, countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
From Middle English fervour, from Old French, from Latin fervor (“a boiling or raging heat, heat, vehemence, passion”), from fervere (“to boil, be hot”); see fervent. By surface analysis, Latin ferv- + -or (“abstract noun suffix”).
Across languages
Translations
72 source translations are retained for this English entry.
