fancy
something many people believe that is false
How often you will meet it
Rank 814 of 71,295 words measured. It occurs 22,351 times across 155,168 chapters — 0.011% of every word in the library.
It belongs to the first 1,000 words, the band worth learning before any other.
What it means
noun
- something many people believe that is false also: illusion, fantasy, phantasy they have the illusion that I am very wealthy
- imagination or fantasy; held by Coleridge to be more casual and superficial than true imagination never had the wildest flights of fancy imagined such magnificence
- a predisposition to like something also: fondness, partiality he had a fondness for whiskeyshe had dismissed him quite brutally, relegating him to the status of a passing fancy, or less
verb
- imagine; conceive of; see in one's mind also: visualize, visualise, envision, project, see, figure I can't see him on horseback!I can see what will happen
- have a fancy or particular liking or desire for also: go for, take to She fancied a necklace that she had seen in the jeweler's window
adjective
- not plain; decorative or ornamented fancy handwritingfancy clothes
fancy in real books
Each sentence below was written by a published author and is taken from a different book in our library. Open one to read the passage it came from, with narration.
-
He’s gone through every penny he ever had, publishing rotten verses in fancy bindings.
The Mysterious Affair at Styles · Agatha Christie · Chapter 1
-
The young gentleman of the house took a fancy to me, and determined to make me his mistress.
Other People's Money · Emile Gaboriau · Chapter 1
-
Jest fancy me slinging my 'ook For old Turmutshire, going out nuttin', or bobbing for fish in a brook!
Punch — Volume 99, August 16, 1890 · Various · Chapter 1
-
Presently, he found that he had fifteen thousand dollars to spare for any small flutter that might take his fancy.
The Intrusion of Jimmy · P. G. (Pelham Grenville) Wodehouse · Chapter 1
-
Fagging at Harrow--which varies slightly in different houses--is hard or easy according to the taste and fancy of the fag's master.
The Hill: A Romance of Friendship · Horace Annesley Vachell · Chapter 1