Meanings
present singular third person tumefies · participle present tumefying · participle past tumefied · past tumefied
- transitiveTo cause to swell.
to swell, tumefy, stiffen, not the diction only, but the tenor of the thought
1840, Thomas De Quincey, “Theory of Greek Tragedy”, in Blackwood's Magazine - intransitiveTo swell; to rise into a tumour.
1 more example
[…] Lanfrank takes Notice of Tract. 3. Doct. 3. cap. 18. ſaying, "I have ſeen many who being full of Humours, have made an Iſſue under the Knee, before due Purgation had been premis'd; whence, by reaſon of the too great Defluxion of Humours, the Legs tumified, ſo that the cauterized Place corrupted, and a Cancer (or rather cacoethic Ulcer) was thereby made, with which great Difficulty was cur'd."
1732, George Smith, Institutiones Chirurgicæ: or, Principles of Surgery, … To which is Annexed, a Chirurgical Dispensatory, …, London: Printed [by William Bowyer] for Henry Lintot, at the Cross-Keys against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet, →OCLC, page 254
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*tum-éh₁-“to be swelling”
- Latintumefaciō
- Frenchtuméfier
- Englishtumefy
From French tuméfier, from Latin tumefaciō, ultimately from tumeō, from Proto-Indo-European *tum-éh₁- (“to be swelling”), stative stem of *tum- (“to swell”).
More words from French, Latin, Proto-Indo-European
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian отичам
- отичам (otičam)to cause to swell
Esperanto ŝveligi
- ŝveligito cause to swell
French tuméfier
- tuméfierto cause to swell
Greek προκαλώ
- προκαλώ (prokaló)to cause to swell
Latin tumefaciō
- tumefaciōto cause to swell
Cite this entry
tumefy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tumefy
“tumefy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tumefy. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tumefy,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tumefy.
Source: tumefy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.