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 But they fade out just as fast, leaving late adopters with outdated sayings and some seriously uncool shoes.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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The Friendship War
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Bad Boy
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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:
An extension of this fad is the massive increase in debt financing.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026
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
Around the same time, millions of Americans got caught up in the fad called “Fletcherizing.”
From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan
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
Two hydrogen atoms are transferred to FAD, producing FADH2.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
The enzymes respond most often to the levels of the available nucleosides ATP, ADP, AMP, NAD+, and FAD.
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
And, as we saw at our own little FAD, even a well-policed reserve is not enough to protect the fish who freely swim outside their safe zones.
From New York Times ● Feb. 17, 2016
Author Matilda Gosling, who wrote Evidence‑Based Parenting, says many of the parenting fads or trends complicate what should be a straightforward relationship between a parent and child.
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026
Digital journalism is as subject to fads as any other medium.
From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026
We have the opposite problem — mountains of rigorous scientific evidence, drowned out by noisy advice, marketing, and fads.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 21, 2026
In a national food culture full of passing fads, the annual excitement generated by ramp season has endured in a way that sun-dried tomatoes or bacon-topped everything haven’t.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 13, 2026
This may be one reason we have so many diet fads in this country.
From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan
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.
