fancier
Americannoun
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a person having a liking for or interest in something; enthusiast.
a fancier of sports cars.
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a person who breeds animals, plants, etc., especially in order to improve the strain.
a horse fancier.
noun
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a person with a special interest in something
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a person who breeds plants or animals, often as a pastime
a bird fancier
Etymology
Origin of fancier
Explanation
Someone crazy about something can be called a fancier. If you join a club to promote the well-being of pheasants, someone might describe you as "a pheasant fancier." That just means you like pheasants a lot. The word fancier can refer to someone who fancies (or really likes) something — such as dogs or wine or chocolate. It can also be used to describe someone who breeds a particular animal, with the intent of improving the breed. Make sure you don’t confuse this word with the adjective fancy, which has a comparative form that is also spelled “fancier.” That fancier would be used in the sense of “more ornamental” or “more extravagant” — as in "My prom dress is fancier than yours."
Vocabulary lists containing fancier
Vocabulary Video Contest (2013) - List 1
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2014 Vocabulary Video Contest (A-L)
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Vocab Video Contest (2016) - List 3
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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.
Stretch the night in one or two directions—bigger in scope, richer in ingredients or a little fancier in presentation.
From Salon • Feb. 10, 2026
Sales of fancier phones mean higher average prices.
From Barron's • Jan. 9, 2026
At fancier resorts, like Mammoth Mountain, they can easily climb to more than $200 per day.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 22, 2025
You can get fancier with trusts, and for that you would want to retain an estate attorney and work out the details to your specifications.
From MarketWatch • Dec. 19, 2025
Generally, academic labs sound much fancier than they are; often they are windowless rooms, cubbyholes, and former closets dug out and jerry-rigged by cash-strapped researchers, but this one is different.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
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.
