fan
/fæn/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Noun:
- An enthusiastic admirer or supporter: A person who has a strong interest in and admiration for a particular person, team, activity, or thing.
- A device for creating a current of air: A mechanical or hand-held object with blades or a flat surface that moves the air to cool people or things.
Verb:
- To move air toward someone or something: To use a fan or a similar object to create a breeze.
- To make an emotion or activity more intense: To stimulate or increase the strength of something, such as a feeling or a fire.
- In baseball: To strike out a batter.
Usage Examples
- Noun (enthusiast):
- She is a huge fan of classical music.
- The football fans cheered loudly for their team.
- Noun (device):
- He turned on the electric fan to cool the room.
- She used a paper fan to cool her face.
- Verb (move air):
- He fanned himself with a magazine.
- The breeze fanned the leaves on the ground.
- Verb (intensify):
- The speech fanned the flames of rebellion.
- Rumors fanned public anxiety about the crisis.
Advanced Usage
- "Fan the flames": To make a situation, especially a conflict or a strong emotion, more intense or worse.
- His angry comments only fanned the flames of the argument.
- "Fan out": To spread out from a central point in a shape resembling an open fan.
- The search party fanned out across the field.
Variants and Related Words
- Fanatic (n): A person filled with excessive and single-minded zeal, often for a cause. (More extreme than a fan).
- He was a religious fanatic.
- Fandom (n): The state or condition of being a fan of someone or something; the community of fans for a particular interest.
- The science fiction fandom gathered for the convention.
- Fanfare (n): A short, showy tune or a lot of publicity and activity. (Shares the root related to attracting attention).
- The product launch was accompanied by much fanfare.
Synonyms
- Noun (enthusiast): Admirer, enthusiast, supporter, devotee, aficionado.
- Noun (device): Ventilator, blower, air circulator.
- Verb (move air): Cool, ventilate, blow, waft.
- Verb (intensify): Stir up, inflame, incite, stimulate, agitate.
Related Phrasal Verbs
- Fan out: To spread apart over a wide area in different directions from a single point.
- The police officers fanned out to search the building.
- Fan through: To look through something, like pages, quickly.
- She fanned through the magazine looking for the article.
Related Idioms
- Fan the flames: To cause emotions, especially anger or excitement, to become stronger.
- The politician's speech fanned the flames of discontent.
- Not a fan of (something/someone): To dislike or not be enthusiastic about something or someone. (Informal).
- I'm not a fan of horror movies.
Noun
- an ardent follower and admirer
- an enthusiastic devotee of sports
- a device for creating a current of air by movement of a surface or surfaces
Verb
- separate the chaff from by using air currents
- She stood there winnowing chaff all day in the field
- agitate the air
- make (an emotion) fiercer
- fan hatred
- strike out (a batter), (of a pitcher)