Adjacent Words

Fanatic definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

FANAT'IC,
FANAT'ICAL, a. [L. fanaticus, phanaticus.]
Wild and extravagant in opinions, particularly in religious opinions; excessively enthusiastic; possessed by a kind of frenzy. Hence we say, fanatic zeal; fanatic notions or opinions.
FANAT'IC,
FANAT'ICAL, n. A person affected by excessive enthusiasm, particularly on religious subjects; one who indulges wild and extravagant notions of religion, and sometimes exhibits strange motions and postures, and vehement vociferation in religious worship. Fanatics sometimes affect to be inspired or to have intercourse with superior beings.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: marked by excessive enthusiasm for and intense devotion to a cause or idea; "rabid isolationist" [syn: fanatic, fanatical, overzealous, rabid] n
1: a person motivated by irrational enthusiasm (as for a cause); "A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject"--Winston Churchill [syn: fanatic, fiend]

Merriam Webster's

or fanatical adjective Etymology: Latin fanaticus inspired by a deity, frenzied, from fanum temple — more at feast Date: 1550 marked by excessive enthusiasm and often intense uncritical devotion <they're fanatic about politics> • fanatic noun • fanatically adverb • fanaticalness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & adj. --n. a person filled with excessive and often misguided enthusiasm for something. --adj. excessively enthusiastic. Derivatives: fanatical adj. fanatically adv. fanaticism n. fanaticize v.intr. & tr. (also -ise). Etymology: F fanatique or L fanaticus f. fanum temple (orig. in religious sense)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Fanatic Fa*nat"ic, a. [L. fanaticus inspired by divinity, enthusiastic, frantic, fr. fanum fane: cf. F. fanatique. See Fane.] Pertaining to, or indicating, fanaticism; extravagant in opinions; ultra; unreasonable; excessively enthusiastic, especially on religious subjects; as, fanatic zeal; fanatic notions. But Faith, fanatic Faith, once wedded fast To some dear falsehood, hugs it to the last. --T. Moore.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Fanatic Fa*nat"ic, n. A person affected by excessive enthusiasm, particularly on religious subjects; one who indulges wild and extravagant notions of religion. There is a new word, coined within few months, called fanatics, which, by the close stickling thereof, seemeth well cut out and proportioned to signify what is meant thereby, even the sectaries of our age. --Fuller (1660). Fanatics are governed rather by imagination than by judgment. --Stowe.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(fanatics) 1. If you describe someone as a fanatic, you disapprove of them because you consider their behaviour or opinions to be very extreme, for example in the way they support particular religious or political ideas. I am not a religious fanatic but I am a Christian. = extremist N-COUNT [disapproval] 2. If you say that someone is a fanatic, you mean that they are very enthusiastic about a particular activity, sport, or way of life. Both Rod and Phil are football fanatics. = enthusiast N-COUNT: usu n N 3. Fanatic means the same as fanatical. ADJ

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. Enthusiast (especially on religious subjects), visionary, zealot, wild enthusiast, frenzied zealot, unreasoning visionary. II. a.; (also fanatical) Enthusiastic, visionary, wild, mad, frenzied, rabid.

Moby Thesaurus

Christian, God-fearing man, accepter, addict, aficionado, alien, aliene, ass, bedlamite, believer, bigot, bitter-ender, borderline case, buff, bug, bullethead, case, catechumen, character, chauvinist, churchgoer, churchite, churchman, collector, communicant, convert, crackbrain, crackpot, crank, daily communicant, dement, demon, demoniac, devotee, devotionalist, diehard, disciple, doctrinaire, dogmatist, donkey, eager beaver, eccentric, energumen, enthusiast, extremist, faddist, fan, fanatico, fiend, flake, follower, fou, freak, good Christian, great one for, hardnose, hermit, hobbyist, hobo, hound, idiot, illiberal, infatuate, intolerant, intransigeant, intransigent, jingo, kook, last-ditcher, lone wolf, loner, loon, loony, lunatic, lunatic fringe, madman, male chauvinist, maniac, maverick, meshuggenah, monomaniac, mule, natural, neophyte, noncompos, nonconformist, nut, odd fellow, oddball, oddity, original, outsider, pariah, perverse fool, phrenetic, pietist, pig, pighead, positivist, proselyte, purist, pursuer, queer duck, queer fish, queer specimen, rabid, racist, radical, rara avis, raving lunatic, receiver, religionist, revolutional, revolutionary, revolutionist, rhapsodist, saint, screwball, sexist, solitary, standpat, standpatter, stickler, sucker for, superpatriot, theist, tramp, truster, type, ultra, ultraist, ultranationalist, visionary, votary, weirdo, zealot