fancy - Dictionary Definition : Vocabulary.com

Fancy can be an adjective, noun, or a verb. As an adjective, it’s the opposite of plain. The noun names something that isn’t real. When someone likes or wants something, the verb can be used: “I fancy a cup of tea.” Doesn’t that sound fancy?

Fancy is an old contraction of the word fantasy. You’ll often see this word used in the phrase “flights of fancy.” This phrase refers to an unrealistic goal or idea such as, “He has flights of fancy about running off to Hollywood and becoming a movie star.” Fancy can also be used as an expression of affection. If you have a crush on someone, for instance, you could say that you “took a fancy” to him or her.

PRIMARY MEANINGS OF: fancy

1	adj	not plain; decorative or ornamented
2	v n	imagine; conceive of; see in one's mind something many people believe that is false
3	n v	a predisposition to like something have a fancy or particular liking or desire for

FULL DEFINITIONS OF: fancy

1

adj not plain; decorative or ornamented

“fancy handwriting”

“fancy clothes”

Synonyms: adorned, decorated
provided with something intended to increase its beauty or distinction; aureate, flamboyant, florid
elaborately or excessively ornamented; baroque, churrigueresco, churrigueresque
having elaborate symmetrical ornamentation; busy, fussy
overcrowded or cluttered with detail; dressy
in fancy clothing; crackle
having the surface decorated with a network of fine cracks, as in crackleware; damascene
(of metals) decorated or inlaid with a wavy pattern of different (especially precious) metals; damask
having a woven pattern; elaborate, luxuriant
marked by complexity and richness of detail; battlemented, castellated, castled, embattled
having or resembling repeated square indentations like those in a battlement; fanciful
having a curiously intricate quality; fantastic
extravagantly fanciful in design, construction, appearance; lacelike, lacy
made of or resembling lace; puff, puffed
gathered for protruding fullness; rococo
having excessive asymmetrical ornamentation; vermicular, vermiculate, vermiculated
decorated with wormlike tracery or markings; rhetorical
given to rhetoric, emphasizing style at the expense of thought

Antonyms:: plain
not elaborate or elaborated; simple; unadorned, undecorated
not decorated with something to increase its beauty or distinction; austere, severe, stark, stern
severely simple; bare, mere, simple
apart from anything else; without additions or modifications; chaste
pure and simple in design or style; dry
(of food) eaten without a spread or sauce or other garnish; dry
having no adornment or coloration; featureless
lacking distinguishing characteristics or features; homely
plain and unpretentious; inelaborate, unelaborate
not elaborate; lacking rich or complex detail; literal
avoiding embellishment or exaggeration (used for emphasis); simple
unornamented; tailored, trim
severely simple in line or design; vanilla
plain and without any extras or adornments; unpretentious
lacking pretension or affectation; unrhetorical
not rhetorical; simple
having few parts; not complex or complicated or involved; show more antonyms...

2

v imagine; conceive of; see in one's mind

Synonyms:: envision, figure, image, picture, project, see, visualise, visualize

: realise, realize, see, understand
perceive (an idea or situation) mentally; visualise, visualize
form a mental picture of something that is invisible or abstract

Type of:: conceive of, envisage, ideate, imagine
form a mental image of something that is not present or that is not the case

n something many people believe that is false

Synonyms:: fantasy, illusion, phantasy

Types:: bubble
an impracticable and illusory idea; ignis fatuus, will-o'-the-wisp
an illusion that misleads; wishful thinking
the illusion that what you wish for is actually true

Type of:: misconception
an incorrect conception

n a kind of imagination that was held by Coleridge to be more casual and superficial than true imagination

Type of:: imagination, imaginativeness, vision
the formation of a mental image of something that is not perceived as real and is not present to the senses

3

n a predisposition to like something

Synonyms:: fondness, partiality

Type of:: liking
a feeling of pleasure and enjoyment

v have a fancy or particular liking or desire for

“She fancied a necklace that she had seen in the jeweler's window”

Synonyms:: go for, take to

Type of:: desire, want
feel or have a desire for; want strongly