Dictionary Thesaurus Word Dynamo Quotes Reference Translator Spanish

fanatical

[fuh-nat-i-kuhl]

Example Sentences Origin

adjective

motivated or characterized by an extreme, uncritical enthusiasm or zeal, as in religion or politics.

Also, fanatic.

Origin:
1540–50; fanatic + -al¹

Related forms

fa·nat·i·cal·ly, adverb

fa·nat·i·cal·ness, noun

non·fa·nat·i·cal, adjective

non·fa·nat·i·cal·ly, adverb

un·fa·nat·i·cal, adjective

EXPAND

un·fa·nat·i·cal·ly, adverb

COLLAPSE

Synonyms
enthusiastic, zealous, frenzied, rabid. See intolerant, radical.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source

Link To fanatical

:10

:09

:08

:07

:06

:05

:04

:03

:02

:01

Fanatical is always a great word to know.

So is doohickey. Does it mean:

a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.

an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

Example Sentences

Opera stars have their claques, fanatical followers and sometimes even completely demented stalkers.

But over the past few decades it has attracted fanatical thugs to its ranks.

He was, in the strictest sense, a zealot: a man both fanatical and fanatically earnest in his beliefs.

EXPAND

Opera stars have their claques, fanatical followers and sometimes even completely demented stalkers.

But over the past few decades it has attracted fanatical thugs to its ranks.

He was, in the strictest sense, a zealot: a man both fanatical and fanatically earnest in his beliefs.

Pound thundered out social and political views which later he would shun as wrong and fanatical.

He is sensibly trying to draw the less fanatical into negotiation while promising to hammer the rest.

Such a strategy is the only way for the healthy aspects of dance, and sports, to triumph over its fanatical and unhealthy aspects.

The entire decade of the aughts was marked by an almost fanatical aversion to risk.

His fanatical approach to religion alienated the people, and many of his subjects revolted.

Some parts of the open-source software movement are without a doubt as fanatical in their way as religious believers.

Indonesia remains vulnerable to the violence of a fanatical fringe.

It is easy to dismiss the iPod as a fad and its fanatical users as members of a gadget-obsessed cult.

Second-hand copies are snapped up by fanatical devotees and first editions go for hundreds of pounds.

Oakely is fanatical about everything to do with gravity.

Reality is self generated and so little can be done to quash fanatical anti-evolutionism.

And the world of automotive restoration can be equally fanatical in its attention to detail.

All of this fanatical detail serves to simulate not sports, exactly, but sports as fans know them: through the television lens.

Fanatical attention to graphics and plots has made the video game a top seller.

She attracts the fanatical attention of a deranged minister who claims he is determined to save her.

He was neither fanatical nor bloodthirsty, in fact had never directly killed anyone.

Saudi paranoia is based on their xenophobic, backward, fanatical worldview.

Those fanatical consumers came to be known as audiophiles.

If you're going to be fanatical about something, there are worse things to obsess over than fuel mileage.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

fanatical (fəˈnætɪk^əl)

—*adj*
	surpassing what is normal or accepted in enthusiasm for or belief in something; excessively or unusually dedicated or devoted

fa'natically

—*adv*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

fanatical

1540s, from fanatic + -al (1). Related: Fanatically.

Word Dynamo By Dictionary.com

Searching for fanatical?
How many words do you actually know?

FIND OUT

fanaticize holy war Kharijite lunatic fringe

Matching Quote

"New York loves itself in an unkind and fanatical way."

-Mason Cooley

Partners:Word Bloglines Citysearch The Daily Beast Ask Answers Ask Kids Life123 Sendori Thesaurus

About Privacy Policy Terms of Use API Careers Advertise with Us Contact Us Help