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HOW TO PRONOUNCE

fossa

/ˈfɑsə/

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American Pronunciation Guide · 0:39
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What does fossa mean?

noun

  1. A pit, groove, cavity, or depression.
  2. A long, narrow, shallow depression on the body of an extraterrestrial body, such as a planet or moon.
  3. A large nocturnal reddish-brown catlike mammal (Cryptoprocta ferox) of the civet family, endemic to the rainforests of Madagascar. It is slender, long-tailed and has retractile claws and anal scent glands.

Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0

IPA pronunciation

/ˈfɑsə/

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0

Other dictionary pronunciations

/ˈfɔsə//ˈfuː.sə//ˈfʊ.sə/
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0

Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.

In the pages of books

See this word in context.

“Fodit, et in fossa thesauros condit opaca, As, nummas, lapides, cadaver, simulacra, nihilque.”
Victor HugoLes MisérablesTranslated by Isabel Florence HapgoodProject Gutenberg ebook #135
In fact, at Vesuvius, these same fragments are met with only in one single place, at the Fossa Grande, where they are hidden under a thick layer of ashes.
Alexander von Humboldt; Aimé BonplandPersonal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, During the Year 1799-1804 — Volume 1Translated by Thomasina RossProject Gutenberg ebook #6322
More book examples (3)
In the right iliac fossa was found a male child weighing 5 pounds and 5 ounces, 8 1/2 inches long, and of about five months' growth.
George M. (George Milbrey) Gould; Walter L. (Walter Lytle) PyleAnomalies and Curiosities of MedicineProject Gutenberg ebook #747
A heavy-handed attendant should never be allowed to manipulate swellings in the right iliac fossa, nor in any other suspected region, for fear of destroying nature's defenses, and possibly rupturing an abscess, the contents of which will be emptied into the peritoneal cavity, causing peritonitis and death.
J. H. (John Henry) TildenAppendicitis: The Etiology, Hygenic and Dietetic TreatmentProject Gutenberg ebook #4314
Others will have it that they were first called Fodii, because the first of the race delighted in digging pitfalls for wild beasts, fodere being still the Latin for to dig, and fossa for a ditch, and that in process of time, by the change of the two letters they grew to be called Fabii.
PlutarchPlutarch: Lives of the noble Grecians and RomansProject Gutenberg ebook #674