fandom
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of fandom
Explanation
Use the word fandom to talk about the community of people who admire a particular celebrity, hero, sports team, or TV show. If you are president of the Boston Red Sox fan club, you're part of the team's fandom. Your favorite boy band might have a fandom that consists mainly of screaming pre-teens, while National Public Radio's fandom is probably mostly middle aged. If you are a fan of a singer or a series of comic books, you can say you belong to their fandom. The word has been around since the very early twentieth century, from fan, a baseball slang abbreviation of fanatic, which comes from the Latin fanaticus, "mad, or inspired by a god."
Vocabulary lists containing fandom
A Hero's Guide to Summer Vacation
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-dom and -hood
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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.
Now, the hope is the governing body can build on the buzz and fandom around the team, as well as longer-term projects such as the establishment of a national training centre.
From BBC • Jul. 8, 2026
“These partnerships help us deepen fandom and create more ways for members to carry those stories with them throughout their day.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 7, 2026
If we lived in a better world, nobody outside the fandom would care about this event.
From Slate • Jun. 16, 2026
Because of that popular campaign, a portion of the “Buffy” fandom thought of Giles as a smokeshow on top of appreciating his vision of what being the only adult in the room looks like.
From Salon • Jun. 12, 2026
When I draw, it’s almost always fandom stuff.
From "Leah on the Offbeat" by Becky Albertalli
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.
