noun

fuzz

fuhz

noun

A soft mass of short, loose hairs or fibres.

"The peach was covered in a light fuzz."

"He picked bits of fuzz off his sweater."

A distorted, buzzing sound, especially from an amplified guitar.

"The guitarist added heavy fuzz to the solo."

Informal: the police.

"Someone shouted that the fuzz was coming."

verb

To test software by feeding it large amounts of random or unexpected input to find bugs.

"The security team fuzzed the login form to look for crashes."

How to Use Fuzz

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishA soft, fluffy layer of tiny fibres — or, in slang, the police; in tech, a way of stress-testing software with random input.

When to use it

"The fuzz" for police is dated, informal slang, mostly heard in older films and shows.

Common pairings

a bit of fuzz fuzz pedal fuzz testing

fuzzed past tense, fuzzes plural, fuzzes singular

Study it as flashcards or scroll it in Flow — saved to your collection.

Test yourself on “fuzz” A quick quiz — meaning, synonyms & usage →

Can you complete this real example?

The peach was covered in a light _____.

Origin uncertain — possibly related to a Germanic word for something loose or spongy, or a back-formation from "fuzzy."

buzz