Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Extremely pleasing or successful.
  • adjective Barely credible; astonishing.
  • adjective Of the nature of a fable or myth; legendary.
  • adjective Told of or celebrated in fables or legends.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Feigned or invented, as a story; fictitious; not true or real: as, a fabulous description or hero; the fabulous exploits of Hercules.
  • Exceeding the bounds of probability or reason; not to be received as truth; incredible; hence, enormous; immense; amazing: as, a fabulous price; fabulous magnificence.
  • Fabling; addicted to telling fables.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Feigned, as a story or fable; related in fable; devised; invented; not real; fictitious
  • adjective beyond belief; exceedingly great.
  • adjective that period in the history of a nation of which the only accounts are myths and unverified legends.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective of or relating to fable, myth or legend.
  • adjective characteristic of fables; marvelous, extraordinary, incredible, unbelievable, absurd, extreme, or exaggerated.
  • adjective fictional or not believable; made up.
  • adjective known for telling fables or falsehoods; unreliable.
  • adjective very good; outstanding, wonderful.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective barely credible
  • adjective extremely pleasing
  • adjective based on or told of in traditional stories; lacking factual basis or historical validity

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, mythical, from Old French fabuleux, from Latin fābulōsus, from fābula, fable; see fable.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French fabuleux or Latin fabulosus, "celebrated in fable".

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word fabulous.

Examples

  • As a matter of fact, Beverly Hills Fabulous is so fabulous that it makes the word fabulous not fabulous enough.

    Abe Gurko: Beverly Hills Fabulous Is Beyond Fabulous Abe Gurko 2011

  • As a matter of fact, Beverly Hills Fabulous is so fabulous that it makes the word fabulous not fabulous enough.

    Abe Gurko: Beverly Hills Fabulous Is Beyond Fabulous Abe Gurko 2011

  • Jason Shultz has witnessed what he calls a fabulous presentation 9MB MP3on the band's legal run-in with Sony over the composition rights to the Beatles songs they parodied and how Lars Ulrich redeemed himself from the dark days of fighting Napster by defending the band's fair use.

    B2fxxx 2005

  • Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, who represents the area in which the crash occurred, on Thursday noted that Octavia, which he called a "fabulous boulevard," could be challenging for drivers, especially those unfamiliar with the city.

    SFGate: Top News Stories Bay City News 2011

  • SciFi Wire is confirming that the once thought lost Star Trek Experience in fabulous Las Vegas will be reopening to coincide with the opening of the new Star Trek film.

    Star Trek Experience reopening confirmed 2009

  • SciFi Wire is confirming that the once thought lost Star Trek Experience in fabulous Las Vegas will be reopening to coincide with the opening of the new Star Trek film.

    2009 February 2009

  • I believe in the democratic process and both sides should be able to debate, but acting "ghetto-fabulous" is not a way to get anything done.

    Obama goes to health-care battlefront with N.H. town hall 2009

  • At Cheltenham literature festival last week, a fine crowd turned out at the delightful Frank Matcham-designed Everyman theatre to hear Bettany Hughes, Stella Duffy and Lucy Hughes-Hallett debate which heroine of the classical world was the most powerful, influential and just plain fabulous: Helen of Troy, Theodora or Cleopatra?

    Stella Duffy rides Theodora to victory at Cheltenham Charlotte Higgins 2010

  • Whittemore's work is just plain fabulous, in more ways than one, and I think both of these books have an innate appeal that's born of their strangeness.

    MIND MELD: Non-Genre Books for Genre Readers 2009

  • We both had the lamb platter with lemon fries, again fabulous and plentiful.

    NJ Dining: A Taste of Greece 2.0 (UPDATED) 2009

Comments

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  • very sad that this word can no longer be used to mean "of or relating to fables"

    October 28, 2009

  • I sometimes use it that way, and not out of wilfulness. I guess I read too much old literature... The old meaning definitely has more value though.

    October 28, 2009

  • The word fabulist still has some zing.

    October 31, 2009