Meaning & use
The Furnace
Last updated
Meanings
proper nounproper
A 2020 Australian western film about camel drivers in the outback in the late 1800s.
Grammar: Used as a title, so it keeps a capital F and normally takes 'the': I watched The Furnace last night.
Patterns
- watch The Furnace
- The Furnace is about someone
- star in The Furnace
We watched The Furnace on a streaming service last weekend.
The Furnace tells the story of a man who joins a camel-driving team in the desert.
Critics praised The Furnace for its bleak, beautiful outback photography.
nounsingularinformal
An informal name for a place or situation that feels extremely hot or harsh.
Grammar: Usually used with 'the' and often in speech rather than writing: It was the furnace in there.
Patterns
- be the furnace
- like the furnace
- in the furnace
Step outside at noon and it is the furnace out there.
After the heating failed, the office felt like the furnace all week.
Common combinations
- The Furnace (2020 film)
- The Furnace (2020 film) won several Australian screen awards.
- like the furnace
- The attic in summer is like the furnace.
- the furnace of the desert
- They crossed the furnace of the desert with only two camels.
Synonyms and how they differ
- oven
- Use 'oven' for a real kitchen appliance or a very hot room; 'the furnace' is a nickname or a film title, not a standard noun for heat.
- blast furnace
- A blast furnace is a real industrial structure for melting metal, so it is the better choice in technical or factory contexts.
Word family
- furnace noun
- A closed container or machine that produces great heat, used for heating buildings or melting metal.
Commonly confused: The Furnace or furniture?
The Furnace vs furniture
Furniture means tables, chairs and beds. A furnace is a heater or, here, a title, so the two words sound similar but mean very different things.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'The Furnace' correctly as a film title?
Choose one answer.
As a title, 'The Furnace' names the 2020 film, so option 1 fits. Options 0 and 3 misuse the capitalised title and the countable noun, and option 2 confuses 'furnace' with 'furniture'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “The Furnace”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.