fanatical

Etymology

It is formed from English fanatic + -al.^[2][3][4][5] Fanatic is from Latin fānāticus (“of a temple; inspired by a god, frenzied”),^{[3][2][6][7][8]} from fānum (“temple, shrine”),^[3][2][6][8] the source of fane;^[8] Etymonline relates it to fēstus (“festive”) and so to feast.^[2][6] Hoad also names French fanatique as a possible source of fanatic.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Marked by excessive enthusiasm, especially in religion: the OED's first quotation is from J. Bale's Apology agaynste Papyst, about 1550.^[3] The 1989 edition of the OED dated this sense 1550,^[9] Etymonline dates the word to the 1540s,^[2] and Dictionary.com to 1540–50.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Its Latin source meant inspired by a deity, as at a temple's orgiastic rites, and so frantic or mad;^[10][2] fanatical meant "possessed by a deity or a devil; frantic, furious" from 1569 to 1634,^[3][4] and in P. Holland's translation of Livy (1600) it described the frenzied movements of possessed people.^[3][4] Shakespeare used it once in Love's Labour's Lost (1598) in the weaker sense "extravagant".^[3] In the later 17th century fanatic was a hostile name for the Nonconformists,^[3][2] and fanatical meant "of the fanatics or Nonconformists" from 1678 to 1702.^[3] The OED's quotations for the main modern sense begin about 1550,^[3] earlier than for the adjective fanatic in the same sense (1659);^[3] Hoad dates that sense of fanatic to the 18th century.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1550 – marked by excessive and mistaken enthusiasm, especially in religion.^[3][4]
• 1569 – possessed by a deity or a devil; frantic, mad, furious (obsolete by 1634).^[3]
• 1598 – extravagant, in Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost (obsolete).^[3]
• 1600 – typical of a possessed person (obsolete).^[3]
• 1678 – of the Nonconformists, then called fanatics (obsolete by 1702).^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Driven by extreme, unreasoning zeal or enthusiasm, especially for a religious or political cause: a fanatical follower of the movement.^{[11][12][4][3]}
2. Unusually or excessively devoted to an interest or pastime: She is fanatical about keeping her garden tidy.^[12]
3. (obsolete, 1569–1634) Possessed by a god or a devil; frantic, mad.^[3][4]

Word family

• fanatically
• fanaticalness
• nonfanatical
• unfanatical

Related words

• fanatic
• fanaticism
• fane
• feast
• festive

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins