Word.ws English Dictionary

fosse

/fɔs//fɒs/

fosse noun: a ditch or moat. Also the alternative form of fossa.

Noun

fosse (plural fosses)

  1. A ditch or moat.
    • [T]he ground was […] scattered with the masses of ruined buildings, that had formerly been part of the outward fortifications, but of which some were fallen into the fosse, and others overgrown with alder, ash, and arbeal.1791, Charlotte Smith, Celestina, Broadview, published 2004, page 486
    • Elberich endeavours to persuade her to become a Christian, and espouse Otnit; and to convince her of the incapacity of her gods, he tumbles their images into the fosse.1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 212

Proper noun capitalized: Fosse

Fosse (plural Fosses)

  1. A surname.

Also used as

fosse is also the alternative form of fossa.

fosse meaning in Arabic and Persian

fosse in Arabic

a ditch or moat
خَنْدَق ḵandaq

fosse in Persian

a ditch or moat
خندق xandaq

Forms of fosse

Noun
pluralfosses
alternative formfoss
Proper noun
pluralFosses

Origin of fosse

From Middle English fosse, from Old French fosse, from Latin fossa (“ditch, trench”).

Words formed from fosse

Words that rhyme with fosse

27 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about fosse

What does fosse mean?
Fosse means a ditch or moat.
What is fosse in Arabic?
Fosse in Arabic is خَنْدَق (ḵandaq). See Fosse meaning in Arabic.
What part of speech is fosse?
Fosse can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce fosse?
Fosse is pronounced /fɒs/ (UK).
What is the plural of fosse?
The plural of fosse is fosses.

Words near fosse in the dictionary

  1. fossanes
  2. Fossano
  3. fossas
  4. fossate
  5. fossatorial
  6. fosse
  7. Fossebridge
  8. fossed
  9. Fossen
  10. Fossens
  11. FOSSer

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: fosse (page history and authors); Fosse (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-fosse.wav, En-us-Fosse.ogg.

Cite this entry: “fosse.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fosse. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.