Etymology
Origin of fervor
1350–1400; Middle English fervo ( u ) r < Anglo-French < Latin fervor heat ( see fervent, -or 1)
Explanation
Use fervor to describe an intensity of emotion or expression. Fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers show so much fervor that they "bleed Dodger blue." This noun comes to us from Latin fervere, meaning "to boil, glow." In the English word fervor, the suffix –or means "a condition or property of something." There is another –or suffix that means "a person or thing that does the thing expressed by the verb." A corresponding adjective is fervent; synonyms of the noun and adjective are ardor and ardent.
Vocabulary lists containing fervor
Lord of the Flies
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Great Expectations
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Twelfth Night
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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.
Between the ongoing fervor for artificial intelligence plays and worries about how consumers are coping with inflation, there’s been little investor interest in consumer stocks.
From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026
AI jitters have swept across markets in recent days, leaving some investors pointing to technical indicators that conjure memories of the speculative fervor leading up to the dot-com bust.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026
Americans are captivated by the dizzying displays of group fervor, zany behavior and national pride that accompany nearly every match at each of the 16 venues in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2026
Like Bierstadt, Church was not just stoking patriotic fervor, but also evoking divine providence as favoring the North’s cause.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 20, 2026
At one time he had almost developed it into an art form, practicing the hobby with the skill and fervor of an artist and philosopher, a scholar and gentleman.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
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.
