Word.ws English Dictionary

gas

/ɡɛəs/UK/ɡæs/

gas noun: matter in an intermediate state between liquid and plasma that can be contained only if it is fully surrounded by a solid (or in a bubble of liquid, or held together by gravitational pull); it can condense into a liquid, or can (rarely) become a solid directly by deposition. Also the ellipsis of gas pedal.

Noun (1)

gas (countable and uncountable, plural gases or gasses)

  1. (physical, uncountable) Matter in an intermediate state between liquid and plasma that can be contained only if it is fully surrounded by a solid (or in a bubble of liquid, or held together by gravitational pull); it can condense into a liquid, or can (rarely) become a solid directly by deposition.
    • A lot of gas had escaped from the cylinder.
    • Turbines have been around for a long time—windmills and water wheels are early examples. The name comes from the Latin turbo, meaning vortex, and thus the defining property of a turbine is that a fluid or gas turns the blades of a rotor, which is attached to a shaft that can perform useful work.2013 July–August, Lee S. Langston, “The Adaptable Gas Turbine”, in American Scientist, archived from the original on 07 Sep 2013
    Synonyms:
    vapor, vapour
    1. (physical, uncountable) A flammable gaseous hydrocarbon or hydrocarbon mixture used as a fuel, e.g. for cooking, heating, electricity generation or as a fuel in internal combustion engines in vehicles, especially natural gas.
      • Gas-fired power stations have largely replaced coal-burning ones.
    2. (physical, uncountable) Poison gas.
      • The artillery fired gas shells into the enemy trenches.
  2. (countable, physical) A chemical element or compound in such a state.
    • The atmosphere is made up of a number of different gases.
  3. (countable) A hob on a gas cooker.
    • She turned the gas on, put the potatoes on, then lit the oven.
  4. (uncountable) Methane or other waste gases trapped in one's belly as a result of the digestive process; flatus.
    • My tummy hurts so bad – I have gas.
    • But anyone with that many large brown birds aroost in his cranium and that much gas in his bottom was clearly not a well person.2008, Nicholas Drayson, A Guide to the Birds of East Africa, page 72
    Synonyms:
    wind
  5. (attributive, often) The supply of natural gas, as a utility.
  6. (dated, slang) A humorous or entertaining event, person, or thing.
    • Two more girls came in, one in bright pink stretch pants and the other in purple. “Man this place is a gas,” said pink.1963 May, Gloria Steinem, “A Bunny's Tale”, in Show Magazine, archived from the original on 04 Oct 2017
    • No it really doesn't matter at all / Life's a gas / I hope it's going to last1971, Marc Bolan, “Life's a Gas”, in Electric Warrior, performed by T. Rex
  7. (slang) Frothy or boastful talk; chatter.
    • Bang, little boy, stop with the gas / Little T, man he chats up his ass2017 July 1, “About That”, performed by Soph Aspin and Millie B
  8. A fastball.
    • The closer threw him nothing but gas.
  9. (colloquial) Arterial or venous blood gas.

Verb (1)

gas (third-person singular simple present gases or gasses, present participle gassing, simple past and past participle gassed)

  1. (transitive) To attack or kill with poison gas.
    • The Nazis gassed millions of Jews during the Holocaust.
    • He never fully recovered after he was gassed on the Western Front.
  2. (transitive) To use poison gas in (a volume or area) to attack or kill someone or something.
    • "He's been waiting to jump my brain-bones since I left R&E. I could feel him hammering on the door." She trotted to the nearest wall and knocked on it for emphasis. "But whatever it is that makes us remember the good old days, it also makes us impossible to possess now. That's why Willie and I both...2023 October 14, HarryBlank, “Face Time”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 23 May 2024
  3. (intransitive, slang) To talk in a boastful or vapid way; to chatter.
    • […] (it was the town's humour to be always gassing of phantom investors who were likely to come any moment and pay a thousand prices for everything) — “[…] Them rich fellers, they don't make no bad breaks with their money. […]”1899, Stephen Crane, chapter 1, in Twelve O'Clock
    • "Well don't keep on gassing about it," said Digory.1955, C. S. Lewis, chapter 3, in The Magician's Nephew, Collins, published 1998
  4. (slang, transitive) To impose upon by talking boastfully.
    • I went shop and the boss man said "Don't pay me it's fine" and I said ...(whaaat): "You ain't gotta gas, I'm gas fam" ( don't gas me), "You ain't gotta gas, I'm gas fam".2018 September 14, “Don't Gas Me” (track 1), in Don't Gas Me, performed by Dizzee Rascal
  5. (intransitive) To emit gas.
    • The battery cell was gassing.
  6. (transitive) To impregnate with gas.
    • to gas lime with chlorine in the manufacture of bleaching powder
  7. (transitive) To singe, as in a gas flame, so as to remove loose fibers.
    • to gas thread

Noun (2)

gas (countable and uncountable, plural gases or gasses)

  1. (Canada, New Zealand, Philippines, US, uncountable) Gasoline, a light derivative of petroleum used as fuel.
    • Saturday’s tariffs are unlikely to be Trump’s last. The president said himself said in the Oval Office that additional tariffs could come by mid-February on chips, pharmaceuticals, steel, aluminum, copper, oil and gas imports – along with tariffs on the European Union – all threats that few would...2025 February 1, Kevin Liptak, “With stiff tariffs he promised now in place, Trump opens a new trade war”, in CNN, archived from the original on 24 Apr 2025
  2. (uncountable) An internal virtual currency used in Ethereum to pay for certain operations, such as blockchain transactions.
    • gas fee
    • Gas is the fuel of Ethereum. Gas is not ether–it's a separate virtual currency with its own exchange rate against ether. Ethereum uses gas to control the amount of resources that transactions can use[…]2018, Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Gavin Wood, Mastering Ethereum: Building Smart Contracts and DApps, O'Reilly Media, →ISBN
  3. (slang, uncountable) Marijuana, typically of high quality.

Verb (2)

gas (third-person singular simple present gases or gasses, present participle gassing, simple past and past participle gassed)

  1. (US) To increase the fuel flow to a vehicle's engine in order to accelerate it.
    • The cops are coming. Gas it!
  2. (US) To fill (a vehicle's fuel tank) with fuel.
    • Between 0945 and 1020 six definite explosions were reported in the hangar. Explosions at 0945 and 1006 were described as minor while those at 1002, 1003 and 1005 were classed as major explosions and the explosion at 1020 was described as a heavy explosion but less severe than some previous ones....1947 October 30, Bureau of Ships, “SECTION III - DISCUSSION”, in U.S.S. Princeton (CVL23): Loss in Action, Battle for Leyte Gulf, 24 October 1944, United States Hydrographic Office, archived from the...
    Synonyms:
    refuel

Adjective (1)

gas (comparative gasser, superlative gassest)

  1. (slang, uncountable) Of high quality.
    • This food is gas.

Adjective (2)

gas (comparative gasser, superlative gassest)

  1. (slang) Comical, zany; fun, amusing.
    • Mary's new boyfriend is a gas man.
    • It was gas when the bird flew into the classroom.

Noun (3) capitalized: GAS

GAS

  1. (abbreviation, acronym) Acronym of group A Streptococcus.
  2. (Philippines, abbreviation, acronym) Acronym of general academic strand, a strand under the academic track in senior high school.
  3. (abbreviation, acronym, music industry) Acronym of gear acquisition syndrome

Proper noun capitalized: Gas

Gas

  1. A commune in Eure-et-Loir, France.
  2. A city in Kansas.

Noun (4) capitalized: Gas

Gas

  1. (plural) plural of Ga

Noun (5) capitalized: GAs

GAs

  1. (plural) plural of GA

Also used as

gas is also the ellipsis of gas pedal.

gas meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

gas in Hindi

(uncountable, chemistry) state of matter
गैस gais

gas in Tamil

(uncountable, chemistry) state of matter
வளிமம் vaḷimam, வாயு vāyu

gas in Marathi

(uncountable, chemistry) state of matter
वायू vāyū

gas in Urdu

(uncountable, chemistry) state of matter
گَیس gais, فارغہ
More languagesFewer languages
gas in Bengali
গ্যাস gês
gas in Telugu
వాయువు vāyuvu
gas in Malayalam
ഗ്യാസ്, വാതകം
gas in Kannada
ಅನಿಲ anila
gas in Punjabi
ਗੈਸ gais, ਫੂ phū
gas in Gujarati
વાયુ vāyu
gas in Odia
ଗ୍ୟାସ୍ gyās
gas in Sinhala
වායු wāyu
gas in Assamese
গেছ ges
gas in Nepali
ग्यास, ग्याँस, ग्यासिङ
gas in Pashto
ګاز gāz, غاز ǧāz
gas in Tagalog
buhag
gas in Arabic
غَاز ḡāz
gas in Malay
gas
gas in Indonesian
gas
gas in Persian
گاز gâz
gas in Thai
ก๊าซ gáat, แก๊ส gɛ́ɛt
gas in Vietnamese
khí tê, khí, chất khí
gas in Myanmar
ဓာတ်ငွေ့ dhatngwe.

Examples of gas in a sentence

  • Once I had a love and it was a gas / Soon turned out had a heart of glass1978, “Heart of Glass”, in Parallel Lines, performed by Blondie:
  • Be a man, Be a man / Belsen was a gas / Be a man, kill someone1979, “Belsen Was a Gas”, in The Great Rock ‛n’ Roll Swindle, performed by Sex Pistols:
  • But it's all right now, in fact, it's a gas.2011 October 11, “Jumping Jack Flash (Live 1973)” (track 14), in Brussels Affair (Live 1973), performed by The Rolling Stones:
  • So all I had to do was open my mind up to the guy, invite him in, then... gas the foyer, as it were."2023 October 14, HarryBlank, “Face Time”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 23 May 2024:

All 40 example sentences with gas

Synonyms of gas

7 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of gas

Forms of gas

Noun
pluralgases
pluralgasses
Verb
third-person singular presentgases
third-person singular presentgasses
present participlegassing
past participlegassed
pastgassed
Adjective
comparativegasser
superlativegassest

Past tense of gas: gassed

Plural of gas: gases or gasses

Origin of gas

Borrowed from Dutch gas, coined by chemist Jan Baptist van Helmont in Ortus Medicinae. Derived from Ancient Greek χάος (kháos, “chasm, void, empty space”); perhaps also inspired by geest (“breath, vapour, spirit”). Doublet of chaos. First attested in 1648.

Clipping of gasoline. Slang forms popularized on TikTok by Gen Z.

Compare the slang usage of "a gas", above.

Words formed from gas

Phrases with gas

151 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with gas

39 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about gas

What does gas mean?
Gas means matter in an intermediate state between liquid and plasma that can be contained only if it is fully surrounded by a solid (or in a bubble of liquid, or held together by gravitational pull); it can condense into a liquid, or can (rarely) become a solid directly by deposition.
What is gas in Hindi?
Gas in Hindi is गैस (gais). See Gas meaning in Hindi.
How do you use gas in a sentence?
Once I had a love and it was a gas / Soon turned out had a heart of glass
What part of speech is gas?
Gas can be a noun, a verb, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce gas?
Gas is pronounced /ɡæs/ (UK).
What is the plural of gas?
The plural of gas is gases.

Words near gas in the dictionary

  1. garçonnière
  2. garçonnières
  3. garçons
  4. Garífuna
  5. Garčin
  6. gas
  7. gas and air
  8. gas and dash
  9. gas and dashes
  10. gas and gaiters
  11. gas and go

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gas (page history and authors); GAS (page history and authors); Gas (page history and authors); GAs (page history and authors); gas (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); gas (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-gas.ogg.

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