fun
Americannoun
verb (used with or without object)
adjective
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Informal. of or relating to fun, especially to social fun.
a fun thing to do; really a fun person; the funnest game.
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Informal. whimsical; flamboyant.
The fashions this year are definitely on the fun side.
idioms
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for / in fun, as a joke; not seriously; playfully.
His insults were only in fun.
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make fun of, to make the object of ridicule; deride.
The youngsters made fun of their teacher.
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like fun, certainly not; of doubtful truth.
He told us that he finished the exam in an hour. Like fun he did!
noun
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a source of enjoyment, amusement, diversion, etc
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pleasure, gaiety, or merriment
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jest or sport (esp in the phrases in or for fun )
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facetious amusement; frivolous activity
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informal
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(adverb) quickly; vigorously
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(interjection) not at all! certainly not!
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to ridicule or deride
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(modifier) full of amusement, diversion, gaiety, etc
a fun sport
verb
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of fun
First recorded in 1675–85; dialectal variant of obsolete fon “to befool”; see fond 1 ( def. )
Explanation
When you are having fun, you are having a good time. Watching little kids jump around inside an inflatable bouncy house, you can instantly tell how much fun they're having. There is no mistaking fun when you're having it, and it's generally used to mean exactly what it sounds like, some activity or experience that's purely enjoyable. When fun takes the form of an adjective, it's informal, not strictly grammatically correct. So while you can say, "Being with her is so much fun," you can't correctly say, "She is such a fun girl." Fun turns a little bit mean when you're making fun of, or teasing, your friend. In this case, it might be fun for you, but it's probably not very much fun for him.
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:
If you sign up before Aug. 14 and complete at least one of the challenges, we’ll mail you some fun stuff!
From Slate ● Jul. 28, 2026
Mr. Mason has gently ironic fun with it all.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
“My hope is that it actually has some of the swagger and fun that people found in ‘Hamilton,’ which also was a very dry subject that you learned about in eighth grade.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
"We really want Merlin to be fun and easy to use, first and foremost, and have it be a place where you can jump in and think about your world of birds," she said.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
“Sadie always makes fun of Mom and her House of Stray Cats, taking in all the people who need a little space.”
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
For me, the sweet spot for rock is the ’70s, and when you dig into obscure stuff, it gets even funner and cooler.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2023
Zoe: Anna is the funner sister because Elsa acts too proper.
From New York Times ● Nov. 19, 2019
“This is one of the funner units to be around.”
From Washington Times ● Oct. 15, 2018
“I feel like my parents lived a crazier, funner life than I did,” says Alana.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 6, 2017
Walking all this way to give Mr. Leroy a plate of food was worth it ’cause waren’t nothing scarier nor funner than watching him eat fish.
From "Elijah of Buxton" by Christopher Paul Curtis
In the documentary, Dawson said: "It was the funnest summer of my life."
From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026
“It was the funnest time ever,” she says, and rewarding in ways she never expected.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2025
Through 48 years of covering high school baseball in Southern California, watching so many prolific pitchers develop into legendary pro players has been one of the funnest parts of being a prep sportswriter.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 11, 2025
It's like some of the funnest times I've had in my community, where you're with them all night long telling stories of the stupid stuff they did growing up.
From Salon ● Sep. 15, 2022
“This is really one of the funnest times of my life,” Osaka said.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 28, 2022
Nearly 25% of the money generated under the proposed tax would go to permanent affordable housing that would be funned in a manner similar to Proposition HHH.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2022
It’s clear that he’s having a blast, and his spirit of funning irreverence supercharges the entire narrative like home-brewed black lightning.
From New York Times ● Feb. 29, 2020
Some of Galassi’s funning does skirt simple one-to-one identification: A Nobel Prize-winning Dutch essayist is called van Meegeren, a name mainly associated with a notorious art forger.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 3, 2015
How he got here: Wins in the O'Reilly Stakes and the Limbaugh Derby — oh, just funning you.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2015
When John Cleese delivers a diatribe to a shyster pet-shop owner while flogging the dead parrot that has been sold to him, the funning is lethally potent.
From Time Magazine Archive
Knowing what I knew and not knowing what if anything Grandpa knew, all this funning and politeness gave me the creeps.
From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns
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.
