What does fossa in Italian mean?

What is the meaning of the word fossa in Italian? The article explains the full meaning, pronunciation along with bilingual examples and instructions on how to use fossa in Italian.

The word fossa in Italian means pit, ditch, trench, tank, have a foot in the grave, be at death's door, have one foot in the grave, be with one foot in the grave, be in trouble, be in hot water, be in big trouble, septic tank, mass grave, oceanic trench, septic tank, dig your grave, dig your own grave, on the edge of the grave. To learn more, please see the details below.

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Meaning of the word fossa

pit, ditch, trench

sostantivo femminile (scavo nel terreno)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
I giustiziati furono gettati in una fossa comune.
Those executed were thrown into a mass grave.

tank

sostantivo femminile (vasca per la raccolta dei liquami)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Le acque nere vengono convogliate nella fossa settica.
Sewage flows into the septic tank.

have a foot in the grave

be at death's door, have one foot in the grave

verbo transitivo o transitivo pronominale (idiomatico (stare per morire) (idiomatic)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
With that illness, he already has one foot in the grave.

be with one foot in the grave

be in trouble, be in hot water, be in big trouble

verbo intransitivo (idiomatico (trovarsi in una situazione di estrema difficoltà)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
In quella riunione mi è sembrato di essere nella fossa dei leoni.
At the meeting, I felt like I was in hot water (or: big trouble.)

septic tank

mass grave

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
I cadaveri venivano gettati nelle fosse comuni senza alcun rispetto.
The bodies were disrespectfully thrown into the mass graves.

oceanic trench

septic tank

sostantivo femminile (fossa biologica)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

dig your grave

dig your own grave

verbo riflessivo o intransitivo pronominale (idiomatico (essere causa del proprio male)

Non lo capisco proprio, si sta scavando la fossa con le sue mani.
I don't understand him at all, he's digging his own grave.

on the edge of the grave

Let's learn Italian

So now that you know more about the meaning of fossa in Italian, you can learn how to use them through selected examples and how to read them. And remember to learn the related words that we suggest. Our website is constantly updating with new words and new examples so you can look up the meanings of other words you don't know in Italian.

Do you know about Italian

Italian (italiano) is a Romance language and is spoken by about 70 million people, most of whom live in Italy. Italian uses the Latin alphabet. The letters J, K, W, X and Y do not exist in the standard Italian alphabet, but they still appear in loanwords from Italian. Italian is the second most widely spoken in the European Union with 67 million speakers (15% of the EU population) and it is spoken as a second language by 13.4 million EU citizens (3%). Italian is the principal working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy. An important event that helped to the spread of Italian was Napoleon's conquest and occupation of Italy in the early 19th century. This conquest spurred the unification of Italy several decades later and pushed the language of the Italian language. Italian became a language used not only among secretaries, aristocrats and the Italian courts, but also by the bourgeoisie.