Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Fad

Definition: Fad

Fad

Noun

1. An interest followed with exaggerated zeal: "he always follows the latest fads"; "it was all the rage that season".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "fad" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1781. (references)

Note: Fad \Fad\, noun. [Compare to Faddle.]. (Websters 1913)



Specialty Definitions: Fad

DomainDefinitions

Computing

FAD ["FAD, A Simple and Powerful Database Language", F. Bancilon et al, Proc 13th Intl Conf on VLDB, Brighton, England, Sep 1987]. Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing.

Literature

Fad (A). A hobby, a temporary fancy, a whim. A contraction of faddle in "fiddle-faddle."
"Among the fads that Charley had taken up for a time was that of collecting old prints." - Eggleston: Faith Doctor, chap. iii. Source: Brewer's Dictionary.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Top     

 

Abbreviations & Acronyms: Fad

The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted.

EntrySourceExpressionField

FAD

DanishFlavinadenindinukleotidMedicine

FAD

EnglishFlavinadenine DinucleotideChemistry

FAD

FrenchFonds d'assurance pour le développementN/A

FAD

ItalianFlavina adenin-dinucleotideMedicine

FAD

SpanishFlavina adenina dinucleótidoMedicine

Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

Top     

Synonyms: Fad

Synonyms: craze (n), cult (n), furor (n), furore (n), rage (n). (additional references)

Top     

Synonyms within Context: Fad

ContextSynonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).

Caprice

Noun: caprice, fancy, humor; whim, whimsy, whimsey, whimwham; crotchet, capriccio, quirk, freak, maggot, fad, vagary, prank, fit, flimflam, escapade, boutade, wild-goose chase; capriciousness; Adjective: kink.

Fashion

Custom; mode, vogue, go; rage; (desire); prevailing taste; fad, trend, bandwagon, furore, thing, in thing, craze, chic, last word.

Misjudgment

Bias, bigotry, warp, twist; hobby, fad, quirk, crotchet, partiality, infatuation, blind side, mote in the eye.

Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Top     

Crosswords: Fad

English words defined with "fad": fad diettrendyvoguish. (references)
Specialty definitions using "fad": Dihydroorotate OxidaseKNIGHTSuccinate Cytochrome c OxidoreductaseTLAsXanthine Oxidase. (references)
Non-English Usage: "Fad" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses.

Danish (course, dish, plate, platter), German (insipid, stalely, undistinctive, undynamic, vapid, vapidly), Irish (extent, extent, length), Romanian (mawkish, musty, tasteless, vapid), Scottish (during the whole, length).

Top     

Modern Usage: Fad

DomainUsage

Screenplays

Only Quinn could turn having brains into a fad. (Daria; writing credit: Glenn Eichler; Peggy Nicoll)

Aw, talking pictures, it's just a fad. (Footlight Parade; writing credit: Manuel Seff; James Seymour)

A passing fad if I ever heard one. (Life with Louie; writing credit: Martin Miehe-Renard; Mette Andersen Ottesen)

Lyrics

In a world of postmodern fad ("Intuition"; performing artist: JEWEL)

It's just like any fad it retracts before impact ("WALKIN' ON THE SUN"; performing artist: Smash Mouth)

Movie/TV Titles

Dr. Fad (1990)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Top     

Commercial Usage: Fad

DomainTitle

Books

  • Trendwatching: Don't be Fooled by the Next Investment Fad, Mania, or Bubble (reference)

  • Phrenology: Fad and Science, a 19Th-Century American Crusade (reference)

  • Corporate Venturing : Management fad or lasting trend? [DOWNLOAD: PDF] (reference)

    (more book examples)

  

Music

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Top     

Image Slideshow: Fad

Computer Images:
Fad

More images...

Top     

Non-Fiction Usage: Fad

SubjectTopicQuote

Health

In FAD, several members of the same generation in a family are often affected. (references)

Familial AD (FAD) is a rare form of AD, affecting less than 10 percent of AD patients. (references)

It is associated with gene mutations on chromosomes 1, 14, and 21. FAD is the result of a certain inheritance pattern called autosomal dominant. (references)

Business

As such, FAD is an excellent source of information on Danish market competition. (references)

FAD (The Defense and Aerospace Industries Association in Denmark) is established under the umbrella of the Confederation of Danish Industries, the central organization for Danish manufacturing industry. (references)

Lexicography

Devil's Dictionary

KNIGHT, n. Once a warrior gentle of birth, Then a person of civic worth, Now a fellow to move our mirth. Warrior, person, and fellow -- no more: We must knight our dogs to get any lower. Brave Knights Kennelers then shall be, Noble Knights of the Golden Flea, Knights of the Order of St. Steboy, Knights of St. Gorge and Sir Knights Jawy. God speed the day when this knighting fad Shall go to the dogs and the dogs go mad.

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Top     

Usage Frequency: Fad

"Fad" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Fad" is used about 98 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)
Parts of SpeechPercentUsage per
100 Million Words
Rank in English
Noun (singular)100%9833,072

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

Top     

Expression: Fad

Expression using "fad": fad diet. Additional references.

Hyphenated Usage

Beginning with "fad": fad-head.

Ending with "fad": mini-fad.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Top     

Frequency of Internet Keywords: Fad

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.
 
ExpressionFrequency
per Day

fad diet

769

fad

67

fad gadget

46

fad jj

38

diets.com fad

11

j.j fad

10

fad jj lyrics

10

fad diet free

10

fad dieting

8

fad jj lyrics supersonic

8
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Top     

Modern Translations: Fad

Language Translations for "fad"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.

Albanian

  

trill (caprice, crotchet, device, deviltry, fancy, fantasy, freak, kink, phantasy, vagary, wantonness, whim, whimsy), modë (fashion, look, mode, rage, style, twig, vogue). (various references)

   

Arabic 

  

‏موضة عابرة, ‏هواية (avocation, fancy, hobby), ‏ولد مهووس, ‏زي (costume, fashion, garb, guise, style, twig, vogue), ‏بدعة (heresy, novelty). (various references)

   

Bulgarian 

  

краткотрайна мода, каприз (caprice, crank, fancy, fit, freak, maggot, megrim, quirk, vagary, vagrancy, whimsy, whim-wham), мания (craze, mania, obsession, rage), прищявка (caprice, crotchet, fizgig, kink, maggot, megrim, vagary, whim, whimsy, whim-wham). (various references)

   

Chinese 

  

风尚. (various references)

   

Czech

  

bláznivý nápad. (various references)

   

Finnish

  

keppihevonen (hobby-horse). (various references)

   

French

  

marotte. (various references)

   

German

  

fimmel (craze, mania, wedge), tick (kink, minimum price change, minimum price fluctuation, minimum quotation spread, point, quirk, tic, tick), mode (apparel, fashion, fashionwear, mode, taste, vogue), masche (craze, dodge, hole, ladder, link, loop, mesh, pitch, ploy, run, stitch, trick), marotte (crank, foible, quirk). (various references)

   

Greek 

  

φαντασιοπληξία (vagary, whim). (various references)

   

Hebrew 

  

תחביב (hobby, hobbyhorse), אפ " חולפת. (various references)

   

Hungarian

  

hóbort (caprice, craze, eccentricity, vagary, whim, whimsy). (various references)

   

Indonesian

  

mode (mode, vogue), kesukaan (fondness, like, predilection), kelaziman (custom, the fashion, usage), demam (ague, aguish, cold, fever, feverish), anutan (adherence, conviction belief). (various references)

   

Italian

  

mania (addiction, craze, crotchet, mania, obession, rage, searches, trick, wedge), capriccio (caprice, device, fancy, freak, kink, maggot, mood, sulkiness, vagary, whim, whimsy). (various references)

   

Japanese Kanji 

  

時好 (fashion), 流行り (fashionable, in vogue, prevailing), 流行 (fashionable, in vogue, prevailing). (various references)

   

Japanese Katakana 

  

りゅう"う (fashionable, in vogue, prevailing), じ"う (automobile industry, earhole, earwax, facts, fashion, imperial tutor, inside the ear, item, matter, season, statute of limitations, time of the year), はやり (fashionable, in vogue, prevailing). (various references)

   

Korean 

  

일시 행. (various references)

   

Manx

  

teihys (choiceness), teaym (attack, bout, bout of sickness, caprice, fit, mood, notion, seizure, spasm, swoon, vagary, whim), flustyrnee (footle, niggle, potter, pottering). (various references)

   

Norwegian

  

kjepphest, innfall (impulse, quirk). (various references)

   

Pig Latin

  

adfay.(various references)

   

Portuguese

  

novidade (innovation, newness, news, novelty, vintage), mania (crank, craze, crotchet, furore, furred, habit, hang up, kink, mania), aptidão (ability, acquirement, aptitude, capability, fitness, incline, knack). (various references)

   

Romanian

  

moft (caprice, crotchet, trifle), marotã (bauble, fancy), manie (crank, craze, failing, foible, hobby, mania, monomania), capriciu (caprice, crotchet, fancy, freak, notion, quirk, whim, whimsy). (various references)

   

Russian 

  

пунктик, причуда (antics, caprice, crank, foible, freak, kink, maggot, vagary, whimsy). (various references)

   

Serbo-Croatian

  

privremena moda (furor, furore, rage). (various references)

   

Spanish

  

novedad (development, newness, news, novelty, originality, recency, release, strangeness), moda (fashion, look, mode, style, trend, vogue), manía (craze, foible, hobby horse, kink, mania, obsession, oddity, rage, thing, trick), ley (act, fineness, grade, law, statute, tenor). (various references)

   

Swedish

  

mani (craze, craziness, mania). (various references)

   

Turkish

  

tuhaflık (antics, Dido, grotesqueness, novelty, queerness, singularity, strangeness), moda (craze, fancy, fashion, fashionable, go, in, in the fashion, mode, rage, style, the done thing, ton, trendy, vogue, with it), merak (anxiety, avocation, bug, care, concern, crotchet, curiosity, disquiet, disquietude, fancy, hobby, interest, sensation, whim, wonderment, worry), heves (alacrity, ambition, anxiety, Ardor, ardour, brio, cult, desire, eagerness, enthusiasm, fancy, fit, freak, furor, furore, grace, inclination, itch, keenness, maggot, nine days' wonder, notion, relish, stomach, studiousness, whim, whimsey, whimsy, zeal), gariplik (crankiness, drollery, fantasticality, grotesqueness, oddity, oddness, singularity, strangeness, whimsicality, whimsicalness), çılgınlık (craze, craziness, delirium, distraction, escapade, foolhardiness, frenzy, fury, lunacy, madness, nuts, rabidness, rave, raving, ravings, vagary, wildness). (various references)

   

Ukranian 

  

примха (buzz, caprice, fancy, fantasy, freak, maggot, megrim, vagary, wantonness, whim, whimsey, whimsy). (various references)

   

Vietnamese 

  

sự thích thú kỳ cục, sự thích thú dở hơi, điều thích thú kỳ cục, điều thích thú dở hơi mốt nhất thời. (various references)

   

Welsh

  

mympwy (caprice, whim). (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Top     

Derivations & Misspellings: Fad

Derivations

Words beginning with "fad": fadable, faddier, faddiest, faddish, faddishness, faddishnesses, faddism, faddisms, faddist, faddists, faddy, fade, fadeaway, fadeaways, faded, fadedly, fadein, fadeins, fadeless, fadeout, fadeouts, fader, faders, fades, fadge, fadged, fadges, fadging, fading, fadings, fado, fados, fads. (additional references)

Words containing "fad": nonfading, prefade, prefaded, prefades, prefading, sulfadiazine, sulfadiazines, unfaded, unfading, unfadingly. (additional references)


Misspellings

"Fad" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: af, afad, afc, afd, afv, Dfda, efad, faa, faak, faav, faaw, facd, fada, Fadd, Fadda, Fadh, fadi, fadl, fado, fadz, faf, fah, fahd, fai, faid, faj, fak, fald, faldi, fam, fas, fau, faud, Faudi, fav, faw, faxd, faz, fca, fd, fda, Fdu, fead, feadz, fedd, Fedi, fedo, fedx, Fga, fha, fiad, Fidc, Fidh, fidi, fidj, fidl, fido, fidw, flad, Fma, Foad, fod, fodd, Fpda, frd, fsa, fsd, ftd, fuad, fudd, fudo, Fwa, ifid, kfa, Mfid, nfha, pfad, sfda, vad. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

Top     

Rhyming with "Fad"

# of Phoneme MatchesPronunciationWord(s) rhyming with "fad" (pronounced fa"d)
2-a" dad, add, bad, Brad, cad, Chad, clad, dad, forbad, gad, glad, grad, had, lad, mad, pad, plaid, rad, sad, Scad, shad, tad.

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Top     

Anagrams: Fad

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Words within the letters "a-d-f"

-1 letter: ad, fa.

 Words containing the letters "a-d-f"
 

+1 letter: daff, daft, deaf, fade, fado, fads, fard.

 

+2 letters: daffs, daffy, decaf, defat, draff, draft, dwarf, faced, faddy, faded, fader, fades, fadge, fados, faked, famed, farad, fards, fared, fated, fauld, faxed, fayed, fazed, fraud.

 

+3 letters: adrift, afeard, afford, afield, afraid, aidful, baffed, barfed, chafed, daffed, dafter, daftly, dayfly, deafen, deafer, deafly, decafs, deface, defame, defang, defats, defeat, deflea, defoam, defray, draffs, draffy, drafts, drafty, dwarfs, fabled, facade, fadein, faders, fadged, fadges, fading, fagged, failed, faired, fandom, fanged, fanned, fantod, farads, farced, farded, fardel, farmed, farted, fashed, fasted, fatted, faulds, fawned, feared, feased, feazed, fedora, feudal, flaked, flamed, flared, flawed, flayed, foaled, foamed, forbad, framed, frauds, frayed, gadfly, gaffed, hafted, leafed, loafed, malfed, rafted, shaduf, waffed, wafted, waifed, yaffed.

 

+4 letters: abfarad, acidify, afeared, affined, affixed, affords, baffled, bedfast, bedwarf, chaffed, crafted, daffier, daffily, daffing, daftest, damnify, dandify, dareful, deafens, deafest, deafish, defaced, defacer, defaces, defamed, defamer, defames, defangs, default, defeats, defiant, deflate, defleas, defoams, defraud, defrays, dewfall, distaff, dogface, drafted, draftee, drafter, dwarfed, dwarfer, effaced, endleaf, enfaced, facades, faceted, faciend, factoid, fadable, faddier, faddish, faddism, faddist, fadedly, fadeins, fadeout, fadging, fadings, fagoted, fainted, faithed, fancied, fandoms, fanfold, fantods, faraday, faradic, fardels, farding, farside, fatbird, fathead, fatidic, fatwood, faulted, favored, fazenda, feasted, fedayee, federal, fedoras, feedbag, fenland, feodary, feudary, fixated, flaccid, flacked, flagged, flailed, flammed, flanged, flanked, flapped, flashed, flatbed, flatted, floated, fluidal, fondant, footpad, foraged, forayed, forbade, forward, foulard, fracted, fragged, franked, frapped, freaked, froward, grafted, handful, handoff, indraft, leadoff, mudflap, mudflat, offhand, offload, piaffed, plafond, prefade, quaffed, raffled, redraft, refaced, sandfly, scarfed, seafood, shadfly, shadoof, shadufs, shafted, sheafed, snafued, staffed, strafed, unfaded, unfaked, unfazed, updraft, wafered, waffled, wharfed.

 

+5 letters: aardwolf, abfarads, aerified, affected, affirmed, afforded, affrayed, airfield, alderfly, argufied, basified, bedeafen, bedframe, bedwarfs, befleaed, birdfarm, boldface, canfield, casefied, daffiest, daffodil, daftness, dandriff, dandruff, dayflies, dayshift, deadfall, deadlift, deafened, deafness, dealfish, deathful, defacers, defacing, defamers, defaming, defanged, defatted, defaults, defeated, defeater, defecate, deferral, defiance, defilade, deflated, deflater, deflates, deflator, defleaed, defoamed, defoamer, defrauds, defrayal, defrayed, defrayer, deifical, denazify, dewfalls, diffract, disfavor, distaffs, dogfaces, downfall, draffier, draffish, draftees, drafters, draftier, draftily, drafting, dreadful, dreamful, driftage, dwarfest, dwarfing, dwarfish, dwarfism, enfilade, enflamed, enframed, facedown, facetted, faciends, factoids, factored, faddiest, faddisms, faddists, fadeaway, fadeless, fadeouts, faggoted, fahlband, fairlead, falcated, falderal, falderol, fallowed, faltered, famished, fandango, fanegada, fanfolds, faradaic, faradays, faradise, faradism, faradize, farmhand, farmland, farmyard, farrowed, farsides, fastened, fatbirds, fatheads, fathered, fathomed, fatigued, fattened, fatwoods, favoured, fazendas, featured, fedayeen, federacy, federals, federate, feedable, feedback, feedbags, feldspar, fellated, fenagled, fenlands, feudally, fiducial, filariid, filiated, filmcard, filmland, finagled, financed, findable, finialed, firedamp, flambeed, flancard, flatbeds, flathead, flatland, flaunted, flavored, flaxseed, floodway, fluidram, foldable, foldaway, foldboat, foliaged, foliated, fondants, foodways, footpads, forbidal, fordable, foredate, forehand, forehead, forelady, foreland, foresaid, foreyard, forrader, forwards, forzando, foulards, foveated, frazzled, freedman, freehand, freeload, fricando, fucoidal, furcated, furnaced, gadflies, gasified, gatefold, guffawed, handcuff, handfast, handfuls, handoffs, handsful, hayfield, headfish, holdfast, indrafts, inflamed, inflated, infrared, ladleful, ladyfish, landfall, landfill, landform, lapidify, leadoffs, leftward, manifold, manyfold, mudflaps, mudflats, nailfold, nazified, offguard, offloads, outfaced, pacified, panfried, pedalfer, plafonds, prefaced, prefaded, prefades, profaned, raftered, ramified, rarefied, rarified, ratified, redefeat, redrafts, reflated, reframed, safaried, safetied, salified, sandfish, scaffold, sclaffed, seafoods, selfward, semideaf, shadoofs, snaffled, softhead, spadeful, standoff, stedfast, sulfated, surfaced, tariffed, toadfish, toadflax, tradeoff, unafraid, unfading, unfeared, unframed, updrafts, upwafted, windfall, windflaw.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

Top     

Alternative Orthography: Fad


Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)

46 61 64

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)

American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)

=

Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)

Braille (1829, in France) (references)

Morse Code (1836) (references)

..-.    .-    -..

Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)

Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)

01000110 01100001 01100100

HTML Code (1990) (references)

&#70 &#97 &#100

ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)

0046 0061 0064

British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)

Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)

406770

Top     

 

INDEX

1. Definition
2. Synonyms
3. Crosswords
4. Usage: Modern
5. Usage: Commercial
6. Images: Slideshow
7. Quotations: Non-fiction
8. Usage Frequency
9. Expressions
10. Expressions: Internet
11. Translations: Modern
12. Abbreviations
13. Acronyms
14. Derivations
15. Rhymes
16. Anagrams
17. Orthography
18. Bibliography


  

Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.