Definitions

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

  • noun Enjoyment; amusement.
  • noun A source of enjoyment, amusement, or pleasure.
  • intransitive verb To speak or act facetiously; joke or fool.
  • intransitive verb To tease or speak playfully to.
  • adjective Enjoyable; amusing.
  • idiom (for/in) As a joke; playfully.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To make fun; jest; joke: as, I was only funning.
  • noun Mirthful sport; frolicsome amusement; enjoyment from gay or comical action or speech.
  • noun Mirthful wit or humor; sportive gaiety of speech or manner; drollery; whimsicality.

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

  • noun Sport; merriment; frolicsome amusement.
  • noun to hold up to, or turn into, ridicule.

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

  • adjective informal enjoyable, amusing.
  • adjective informal whimsical, flamboyant
  • noun amusement, enjoyment or pleasure.
  • noun playful, often noisy, activity.
  • verb colloquial To tease, kid, poke fun at.

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

  • noun verbal wit or mockery (often at another's expense but not to be taken seriously)
  • noun violent and excited activity
  • noun a disposition to find (or make) causes for amusement
  • noun activities that are enjoyable or amusing

Etymologies

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

[Possibly from fon, to make a fool of, from Middle English fonnen, to fool, possibly from fonne, fool.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English fon, fonne ("foolish, simple, silly"), probably of North Germanic origin, related to Swedish fånig ("foolish"), Swedish fåne ("a fool"). Compare also Norwegian fomme, fume ("a fool"). More at fon.

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Examples

Comments

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  • I'm surprised no one has commented on just how odd this word is. Say it a few times: fun, fun, fun! Cheers one up and all, yes; fun, yes; but odd.

    January 27, 2008

  • F is for Friends who do stuff together

    U is for You and me

    N is for Anywhere, anytime at all

    Down here in the deep blue sea

    -Spongebob Squarepants

    December 19, 2008

  • I disagree with Asativum! Fun, fun, fun, thud, thud thud. This word is not at all fun, it's an unomatopoeia.

    April 11, 2009

  • "Now, I was sure Richard was funning me when he told me I was nice. He talks so much of my hair that I was afraid he thought little of the rest of me. I'm sure he told you that I'm plain. And I am. Am I not?"

    - Rebecca West, The Judge

    July 29, 2009

  • low intensity

    October 12, 2012