fabulous
adjective
Did you know?
The Meaning of Fabulous Before It Meant ‘Great’
Most of us use the word fabulous in an entirely positive sense, with the meaning “wonderful” or “marvelous.” This is an entirely acceptable way to use the word, but it is by no means the sense that fabulous had when it entered the English language: its original meaning was “characteristic of fables” (a fable is “an invented tale”). In that sense, "the fabulous legends of Arabia" refers to legends based upon fable rather than notably excellent legends. The semantic drift that fabulous has undergone is not at all uncommon in language, and we see comparable developments in words of similar in meaning. Fantastic previously meant “of, belonging to, or constituting fantasy”; awesome initially had the sole meaning “expressive of awe” (and many people wish that it still did); and terrific meant “terrible, terrifying” long before it meant “splendid.”
Examples of fabulous in a Sentence
Chiara Barzini, Vogue, 28 Feb. 2025
Wonder also breezes in, with a billionaire’s crash landing into a swimming pool, a fabulous debut novel about womanhood and a gorgeous cookbook that celebrates California’s bounty.
—Bethanne Patrick, Los Angeles Times, 28 Feb. 2025
Best Actor Timothée Chalamet was fabulous, brilliant.
—Anne Thompson, IndieWire, 27 Feb. 2025
In a 2008 Ebony profile, Banks posed with Iman, Alek Wek and Kimora Lee Simmons—women who were all toggling between fabulous modeling careers, as the faces of high fashion, and new options, in case the world of struts ever turned a cold shoulder.
—Essence, 25 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for fabulous
Cite this Entry
“Fabulous.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fabulous. Accessed 14 Mar. 2025.
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fabulous
adjective
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