fanatic
noun · adjective
Simple meaning
Someone who is zealously enthusiastic for some cause.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
fuhnatikSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
fəˈnætɪk
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A person who is zealously enthusiastic for some cause.
adjective
Fanatical.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A person who is zealously enthusiastic for some cause.
In this sense, fanatic is a strong, expressive word and suggests enthusiasm that has gone past what most people would call reasonable. Among friends, and about hobbies, it can be worn proudly; about someone's politics or beliefs it usually sounds like criticism.
- Emotional tone
- Context-dependent
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Strong
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Everyday but emotionally strong
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use fanatic
- “A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject"--Winston Churchill.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: fanatical
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.