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Fancy vs Strange - What's the difference?

fancy | strange |

As a noun fancy

is the imagination.

As an adjective fancy

is decorative.

As a verb fancy

is (formal) to appreciate without jealousy or greed.

As a proper noun strange is

.

fancy

English

Alternative forms

* (all obsolete)

Noun

(fancies)
  • The imagination.
  • * Milton
  • In the soul / Are many lesser faculties, that serve / Reason as chief. Among these fancy next / Her office holds.
  • An image or representation of anything formed in the mind; conception; thought; idea.
  • * Shakespeare
  • How now, my lord! why do you keep alone, / Of sorriest fancies your companions making?
  • An opinion or notion formed without much reflection; an impression.
  • * John Locke
  • I have always had a fancy that learning might be made a play and recreation to children.
  • A whim.
  • I had a fancy to learn to play the flute.
  • Love or amorous attachment.
  • He took a fancy to her.
  • The object of inclination or liking.
  • * Shakespeare
  • to fit your fancies to your father's will
  • Any sport or hobby pursued by a group.
  • Trainspotting is the fancy of a special lot.
    the cat fancy
  • The enthusiasts of such a pursuit.
  • He fell out of favor with the boxing fancy after the incident.
  • * De Quincey
  • a great book sale in London, which had congregated all the fancy
  • A diamond with a distinctive colour.
  • That which pleases or entertains the taste or caprice without much use or value.
  • * Mortimer
  • London pride is a pretty fancy for borders.
  • (obsolete) A sort of love song or light impromptu ballad.
  • (Shakespeare)
  • In the game of jacks, a style of play involving additional actions (contrasted with plainsies).
  • * 1970 , Marta Weigle, Follow my fancy: the book of jacks and jack games (page 22)
  • When you have mastered plainsies, the regular jack game, and have learned all the rules, you will be ready to use this part of the book. A fancy is a variation of plainsies which usually requires more skill than plainsies does.
  • * 2002 , Elizabeth Dana Jaffe, ?Sherry L. Field, ?Linda D. Labbo, Jacks (page 26)
  • When you get good at jacks, try adding a fancy . A fancy is an extra round at the end of a game. It makes the game a little harder. Jack Be Nimble, Around the World, or Black Widow are some fancies.

    Derived terms

    * flight of fancy * tickle someone's fancy

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Decorative.
  • This is a fancy shawl.
  • Of a superior grade.
  • This box contains bottles of the fancy grade of jelly.
  • Executed with skill.
  • He initiated the game winning play with a fancy , deked saucer pass to the winger.
  • (colloquial) Unnecessarily complicated.
  • I'm not keen on him and his fancy ideas.
  • (obsolete) Extravagant; above real value.
  • * Macaulay
  • This anxiety never degenerated into a monomania, like that which led his [Frederick the Great's] father to pay fancy prices for giants.

    Synonyms

    * (decorative) decorative, ornate * (unnecessarily complicated) highfalutin

    Antonyms

    * (decorative) plain, simple * (unnecessarily complicated) simple

    Verb

    (en-verb)
  • (formal) To appreciate without jealousy or greed.
  • I fancy your new car, but I like my old one just fine.
  • (British) would like
  • I fancy a burger tonight for dinner
    Do you fancy going to town this weekend?
  • (British, informal) To be sexually attracted to.
  • I fancy that girl over there.
  • (dated) To imagine, suppose.
  • I fancy you'll want something to drink after your long journey.
    Fancy meeting you here!
    Fancy that! I saw Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy kissing in the garden.
  • * John Locke
  • If our search has reached no farther than simile and metaphor, we rather fancy than know.
  • * Thackeray
  • He fancied he was welcome, because those around him were his kinsmen.
  • * 1895 , H. G. Wells, The Time Machine Chapter X
  • I fancied at first the stuff was paraffin wax, and smashed the jar accordingly. But the odor of camphor was unmistakable.
  • To form a conception of; to portray in the mind; to imagine.
  • * Dryden
  • he whom I fancy , but can ne'er express
  • To have a fancy for; to like; to be pleased with, particularly on account of external appearance or manners.
  • * Shakespeare
  • We fancy not the cardinal.

    Synonyms

    * (be sexually attracted to) like (US) * (would like to) feel like

    Derived terms

    * fancy that

    See also

    * fantasy * fancy man * fancy oneself * fancypants * fancy woman

    strange

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Not normal; odd, unusual, surprising, out of the ordinary.
  • He thought it strange that his girlfriend wore shorts in the winter.
  • * Milton
  • Sated at length, erelong I might perceive / Strange alteration in me.
  • Unfamiliar, not yet part of one's experience.
  • I moved to a strange town when I was ten.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Here is the hand and seal of the duke; you know the character, I doubt not; and the signet is not strange to you.
  • * 1955 , edition, ISBN 0553249592, pages 48–49:
  • She's probably sitting there hoping a couple of strange detectives will drop in.
  • (physics) Having the quantum mechanical property of strangeness.
  • * 2004 Frank Close, Particle Physics: A Very Short Introduction , Oxford, page 93:
  • A strange quark is electrically charged, carrying an amount -1/3, as does the down quark.
  • (obsolete) Belonging to another country; foreign.
  • * Shakespeare
  • one of the strange queen's lords
  • * Ascham
  • I do not contemn the knowledge of strange and divers tongues.
  • (obsolete) Reserved; distant in deportment.
  • * Shakespeare
  • She may be strange and shy at first, but will soon learn to love thee.
    (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
  • (obsolete) Backward; slow.
  • * Beaumont and Fletcher
  • Who, loving the effect, would not be strange / In favouring the cause.
  • (obsolete) Not familiar; unaccustomed; inexperienced.
  • * Shakespeare
  • In thy fortunes am unlearned and strange .

    Synonyms

    * (not normal) bizarre, fremd, odd, out of the ordinary, peculiar, queer, singular, unwonted, weird * (qualifier, not part of one's experience): new, unfamiliar, unknown * See also

    Antonyms

    * (not normal) everyday, normal, regular (especially US), standard, usual, unsurprising * (qualifier, not part of one's experience): familiar, known

    Derived terms

    * for some strange reason * like a cat in a strange garret * strange as it may seem * strange bird * strangelet * strange matter * strange quark * strangely * strangeness * strangeonium * stranger things happen at sea, stranger things have happened at sea * strange to say * truth is stranger than fiction

    Verb

    (strang)
  • (obsolete) To alienate; to estrange.
  • (obsolete) To be estranged or alienated.
  • (obsolete) To wonder; to be astonished.
  • (Glanvill)

    Statistics

    *

    Noun

    (no plural)
  • (slang, uncountable) vagina
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