[
US
/ˈfænsi/
]
[ UK /fˈænsi/ ]
[ UK /fˈænsi/ ]
ADJECTIVE
-
not plain; decorative or ornamented
fancy clothes
fancy handwriting
NOUN
-
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 -
something many people believe that is false
they have the illusion that I am very wealthy -
a predisposition to like something
she had dismissed him quite brutally, relegating him to the status of a passing fancy, or less
he had a fondness for whiskey
VERB
-
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 -
have a fancy or particular liking or desire for
She fancied a necklace that she had seen in the jeweler's window
How To Use fancy In A Sentence
- It is by these special touches that the author infuses the books with the spirit of humanity, without which a fantasy becomes an empty fancy.
- Every large town will have quite a few horologers and jewelers with a vast selection of fancy watches displayed their windows, with huge price tags to go with them.
- Clearly the megalosaurus in the opening passage of Bleak House is a flight of hyperbolic fancy (inspired, I would guess, by the papier-mâché dinosaurs constructed for the Crystal Palace Exhibition, a couple of years earlier).
- The Christmas penny jar will buy more food and drink than we could possibly consume over the holiday and there aren't any goodies I truly fancy finding in my stocking.
- Try poppies, cornflowers, stocks, love-in-a-mist, cosmos, mignonette, larkspur, honesty, ox-eye daisies, marigolds, phlox, sunflowers, zinnias - whatever takes your fancy.
- A year later, in ‘L' Allegro ’, the delphic element had disappeared, and Milton's cheerful man heard ‘Sweetest Shakespeare, fancy's child Warble his native woodnotes wild’.
- No magic numbers, fancy formulas or special percentages of carbs, fats and proteins are necessary to reap the benefits of a smart lower-carb diet.
- What could stop two swashbuckling heroes from venturing in for another gruelling day larking around in fancy dress? The Sun
- I believe there is a 19 year old Tory standing in Coatbridge and Chryston but, personally, I don't fancy his chances. When two tribes go to war (part four)
- But she knew that had she done so — had she so resolved — that which she called her fancy would have been too strong for her. Phineas Finn
