fad
noun
a temporary fashion, notion, manner of conduct, etc., especially one followed enthusiastically by a group.
fad
American
[fad]
/ fæd /
noun
-
fads
plural
fad
1
British
/ fæd /
noun
-
an intense but short-lived fashion; craze
-
a personal idiosyncrasy or whim
FAD
2
British
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of fad
1825–35; noun use of dial. fad to look after things, busy oneself with trifles, back formation from obsolete faddle to play with, fondle. See fiddle
Explanation
If it’s all the rage, everybody’s into it, your parents don’t get it, and teenage girls across the globe are trying to outdo each other with it, it’s officially a fad. From hairstyles to hula hoops to saying “that’s hot,” fads are known to rise to crazed levels of popularity seemingly overnight. But they fade out just as fast, leaving late adopters with outdated sayings and some seriously uncool shoes. Much like a fad itself, no one has any real idea where this word came from. But it’s still in fashion some 144 years later.
Vocabulary lists containing fad
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
It’s tempting to dismiss the latest hot summer fad as the product of a postadolescent psychopathology.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
“There’s no special reason they should be allowed to bypass the standard clinical trial system just because there’s a peptide fad driven by wellness influencers and telehealth firms.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
“If raw milk was a fad or a lie, then why would people repeatedly buy raw milk and then tell the world how they love it,” he said.
From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2026
Yet most of it has little to show in long-term outcomes or scientific backing, and frustrated consumers shift from one fad to the next, without moving the needle on their weight.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 21, 2026
He was the first kid in the class to be onto a new fad or get a new gadget.
From "Ugly" by Robert Hoge
The company aims to pay out 75% to 80% of its FAD to shareholders each year in dividends—both regular and special—and stock repurchases, while boosting its base payout by 5% annually.
From Barron's ● Dec. 5, 2025
Complex IV contains a membrane-bound enzyme that accepts electrons from FADH2 to make FAD.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
Two hydrogen atoms are transferred to FAD, producing FADH2.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
After optimizing the experimental conditions, she was able to use bacterial cell cultures to produce samples of the protein with the FAD correctly bound.
From Scientific American ● Mar. 15, 2022
The FAD was low-tech and anchored, just a plastic buoy attached to a thick, mollusk-coated rope tethered to the ocean floor more than 500 feet below.
From New York Times ● Feb. 17, 2016
Some also say Americans — as in the case of previous health fads — run the risk of overdoing it.
From MarketWatch ● May 10, 2026
And the likes of Zudio and Max have brought about the "trendification" of affordable fashion for the first time, appealing to Gen-Z and young millennial buyers, by trawling the latest fads in Paris and Milan.
From BBC ● Feb. 22, 2026
Then came more parenting fads, one crashing wave after another.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026
But unlike flash-in-the-pan fads, this one may have staying power.
From Slate ● Jan. 27, 2026
People who had actually been teenagers in the 1980s, all now approaching old age, had the strange experience of seeing the fads and fashions of their youth embraced and studied by their grandchildren.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
