Dictionary Definition
fancy adj : not plain; decorative or ornamented;
"fancy handwriting"; "fancy clothes" [ant: plain]
Noun
1 something many people believe that is false;
"they have the illusion that I am very wealthy" [syn: illusion, fantasy, phantasy]
2 fancy was held by Coleridge to be more casual
and superficial than imagination
3 a predisposition to like something; "he had a
fondness for whiskey" [syn: fondness, partiality]
Verb
1 imagine; conceive of; see in one's mind; "I
can't see him on horseback!"; "I can see what will happen"; "I can
see a risk in this strategy" [syn: visualize, visualise, envision, project, see, figure, picture, image]
2 have a fancy or particular liking or desire
for; "She fancied a necklace that she had seen in the jeweler's
window" [syn: go for, take to] [also:
fancied, fanciest, fancier]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Alternative spellings
- fant'sy, Phant'sy (both obsolete)
Etymology
Fancy arises in late Middle English as a contraction of fantasy. From Old French and Early French fantasie, itself from the Late Latin fantasia, which originated from the Greek Phantazein (phan. to render visible). Related words include diaphanous (transparent), epiphany (manifestation).The noun Fancy can usually still be replaced with
the older word fantasy
without any change of meaning.
Pronunciation
-
- Rhymes: -ænsi
Noun
- The imagination;
an imagined image.
- The film rose from Stephen's fancy.
- A whim.
- I had a fancy to learn to play the flute.
- Love or amorous attachment.
- He took a fancy to her.
- Any sport or hobby pursued by a group.
- Trainspotting is the fancy of a special lot.
- The enthusiasts
of such a pursuit.
- He fell out of favor with the boxing fancy after the incident.
Translations
The imagination; an imagined image
A whim
- Finnish: oikku, päähänpisto
Love or amorous attachment
- Finnish: ihastus
Any sport or hobby pursued by a group
The enthusiasts of such a pursuit
- Finnish: harrastajat p, intoilijat p
Adjective
- Decorative.
- This is a fancy shawl.
- Of a superior
grade.
- This box contains bottles of the fancy grade of jelly.
- Executed with
skill.
- He initiated the game winning play with a fancy, deked saucer pass to the winger.
- Unnecessarily complicated.
- I'm not keen on him and his fancy ideas.
Synonyms
- sense decorative decorative, ornate
- sense unnecessarily complicated high falutin
Antonyms
- sense decorative plain, simple
- sense unnecessarily complicated simple
Translations
decorative
- Finnish: koristeellinen
- German: ausgefallen
Of a superior grade
- Finnish: hienostunut, hieno
Executed with skill
(colloquial) Unnecessarily complicated
- Finnish: hieno
Verb
- To appreciate
without jealousy or
greed.
- I fancy your new car, but I like my old one just fine.
- would like to
- To be sexually
attracted to.
- I fancy that girl over there.
- To imagine.
- I fancy you'll want something to drink after your long journey
Synonyms
- sense be sexually attracted to like qualifier US
- sense would like to feel like
Translations
To imagine
- German: sich vorstellen
- Dutch: zich voorstellen
To be sexually attracted to
would like to
See also
Extensive Definition
Fancy may refer to Vanessa Halpin (see also,
Lady)
Fancy may also refer to:
In biology:
- Fancy (animal breeding), hobby involving the appreciation, promotion and/or breeding of animals
- Fancy mouse, domesticated version of the common or house mouse
- Fancy rat, domesticated breed of the Brown Rat or of the Black Rat
- Fancy-Leafed Caladium, plant
In geography:
- Fancy Farm, Kentucky, United States
- Fancy Gap, Virginia, United States
- Fancy, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
In literature:
- Cat Fancy (magazine), popular monthly magazine dedicated to cats
- Dog Fancy, monthly magazine dedicated to dogs
- Fact and Fancy, collection of seventeen scientific essays by Isaac Asimov
- Pirate Fancy, monthly internet magazine dedicated to pirates
In music:
- A Passing Fancy, popular Toronto band from the 1960s
- Fantasia (music), also known as Fancy, a musical composition with its roots in the art of improvisation
- Fancy (singer), German Euro Disco artist who was popular in the mid to late 1980s
- Fancy (song), 1969 song written and sung by Bobbie Gentry, and covered by Reba McEntire
- Fancy (band), a mid-1970s pop group that released two L.P.s
- Nuthin' Fancy, the 3rd album by Lynyrd Skynyrd
- Plain and Fancy, Broadway musical
- Ryan's Fancy, musical group of the '60s, '70s and '80s
In television:
- Fancy Lala, magical girl anime series produced by Studio Pierrot in 1998
- Richard Fancy, American actor best known for his long recurring role on Seinfeld as the publisher Mr. Lippman
- Fancy Crane, a fictional character on the soap opera, Passions
In other fields:
- Fancy cancel, postal cancellation that includes an artistic design
- Fancy Crane, fictional character on NBC's daytime drama, Passions
- Fancy dance, style of dance originally created by members of the Lakota peoples around the turn of the 20th Century
- Fancy Dutch, Pennsylvania Germans who belonged to the Reformed and Lutheran churches
- Fancy Pants, 1950 American comedy movie
- Fancy (Every's pirate ship), the ship commanded by Henry Every during his career as a pirate.
See also
fancy in German: Fancy
fancy in Japanese: ファンシー
fancy in Swedish: Fancy
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
Amor,
Babylonian, Byzantine, Christian love,
Corinthian, Daedalian, Eros, Platonic love, a bit much,
abandoned, account as,
adept, admiration, adoration, adorned, adroit, affection, affinity, agape, aim at, ambitious, animus, apparition, appetence, appetency, appetite, apprehension, approve, apt, arabesque, ardency, ardor, artistic, assume, attachment, attraction, authoritative, automatic
response, awe-inspiring, awful, bag, barbaric, baroque, be afraid, be desirous
of, be fond of, be partial to, bee, befrilled, believe, bent, bias, blind impulse, bodily love,
boundless, boutade, brain wave, brainchild, brainstorm, bravura, brilliant, brotherly love,
bubble, burn with love,
busy, capriccio, caprice, capricious, care for,
caritas, charity, chichi, chimera, choice, choose, chosen kind, classy, clean, clever, coin, colored, command, complex, complicated, conation, conatus, conceit, conceive, concept, conception, conceptualize, conclude, concoct, concupiscence, conjecture, conjugal love,
conjure up, consider,
contrariness,
coordinated,
costly, crack, crackerjack, crank, crave, craving, craze, crazy idea, create, creation, creativeness, creativity, crotchet, cunning, cup of tea, curiosity, cute, cutthroat, daedal, daresay, daydream, dear, dear-bought, decision, decorated, decorative, deem, deft, delirium, delusion, delusive, deluxe, desiderate, desideration, desire, determination, devotion, dexterous, dextrous, diplomatic, discretion, disposition, divine, dote on, dote upon,
dream, dream up, drive, druthers, eagerness, egregious, eidolon, elaborate, elegant, embellished, embroidered, endorse, enormous, envisage, envisagement, envision, envisioning, esteem, estimate, exacting, exaggerated, excellent, excessive, exorbitant, expect, expensive, experience
imaginatively, expert,
extortionate,
extravagant,
extreme, fable, fabricate, fabrication, fabulous, fad, faithful love, fanciful, fantasize, fantasque, fantastic, fantastic notion,
fantasticism,
fantasy, fascination, favor, feel, fervor, festooned, fiction, fictionalize, figment, figurative, figured, fine, flamboyant, flame, flash, fleeting impulse, flight of
fancy, flimflam,
florid, flossy, flowery, fondness, fool notion, freak, freakish inspiration, free
choice, free love, free will, free-lovism, frilly, fumes of fancy, fussy, gather, gigantic, gingerbread, glorious, gluttonous, go for, good, goodish, gouging, graceful, grand, grandiose, grant, grossly overpriced,
guess, gut response,
hallucination,
handy, hankering, harebrained idea,
hatch, have a hunch, have
an idea, have an impression, have an inkling, have designs on, have
eyes for, have it bad, have the idea, heart, hero worship, high, high-class, high-flown,
high-flying, high-priced, high-toned, high-wrought, highfalutin, highfaluting, hold, hold as, hope, horme, humor, hunger for, hyperbolic, hypertrophied, idea, ideate, idle fancy, idolatry, idolism, idolization, illusion, illusory, image, imagery, imagination, imaginativeness,
imagine, imagining, imago, immoderate, imposing, impression, impressive, impulse, inclination, incontinent, infer, inflated, inflationary, ingenious, inordinate, inspiration, instinct, insubstantial image,
intellectual curiosity, intellectual object, intemperate, intention, intricate, invent, invention, inventiveness, involuntary
impulse, irrationality, judge, kink, labored, lasciviousness, leaning, let, let be, libido, like, liking, lofty, long for, longing, look upon as, love, lovemaking, lush, lust, lust after, lust for
learning, luxuriant,
luxurious, luxury, maggot, magisterial, magnificent, maintain, majestic, make up,
make-believe, married love, masterful, masterly, megrim, memory-trace, mental
image, mental impression, mind, mirage, mold, monstrous, moresque, mutual affinity,
mutual attraction, myth,
natural impulse, neat,
need, nightmare, no mean, noble, not affordable, notion, objectification,
objective, observation, of great cost,
opine, opinion, originate, ornamental, ornamented, ornate, ostentatious, out of
bounds, out of sight, outrageous, overbig, overcharged, overdeveloped, overelaborate, overelegant, overgreat, overgrown, overlabored, overlarge, overloaded, overmuch, overpriced, overweening, overworked, overwrought, palatial, partiality, particular
choice, passing fancy, passion, peculiarity, penchant, perception, personal choice,
perverseness,
phantasm, phantom, physical love, picture, picturesque, pine for,
pleasure, pleasure
principle, plush, politic, popular regard,
popularity, posh, predilection, predisposition, prefer, preference, prefigure, prejudice, premium, prepossession, preposterous, presume, presuppose, presurmise, pretentious, pretty-pretty,
pricey, prime, princely, proclivity, produce, professional, proficient, prohibitive, propensity, proud, provisionally accept,
purple, quality, quick, quick hunch, quirk, quite some, ready, recept, reckon, reflection, reflex, regard, representation, repute, resolution, resourceful, rich, ritzy, rococo, romance, sanction, say, select, sentiment, set down as,
sex, sexual desire, sexual
love, shape, shine, sick fancy, skillful, skyrocketing, slick, some, special, spiraling, spiritual love,
splendacious,
splendid, splendiferous, stately, statesmanlike, steep, stiff, style, stylish, sudden thought,
sumptuous, superb, superfancy, superfine, superior, suppose, supposition, surmise, suspect, swank, swanky, swell, sympathy, tactful, take, take for, take for granted,
take it, take to, take to be, taste, tendency, tender feeling,
tender passion, the compleat, the complete, theory, thick-coming fancies,
thing, think, think up, thirst for
knowledge, thought,
tony, too much, top, toy, trip, trow, truelove, turn, type, unbridled, unconscionable, understand, undue, unpayable, unrealistic, unreality, unreasonable, unreasonableness,
unrestrained,
unwarranted,
urge, usurious, uxoriousness, vagary, vapor, vaunting, velleity, view as, virtuoso, vision, visionary, visualize, volition, want, wanting, weakness, ween, well-done, whim, whim-wham, whimsical, whimsy, wildest dreams, will, will and pleasure, will
power, wish, wish for, wish
fulfillment, wish to goodness, wish very much, workmanlike, worship, would fain do, yearning