fair
/ˈfɛə/ adjective, noun, verb, adverb, proper noun
Forms fairer fairest fairs fairing faired faire
- adjective (original sense, archaic or literary) Beautiful, of a pleasing appearance, with a pure and fresh quality. “Monday's child is fair of face.”
- adjective Unblemished (figuratively or literally); clean and pure; innocent. “one's fair name”
- adjective Light in color, pale, particularly with regard to skin tone but also referring to blond and red hair. “She had fair hair and blue eyes.”
- adjective Just. “He must be given a fair trial.”
- adjective Adequate, reasonable, or decent, but not excellent. “Their performance has been only fair.”
- adjective (nautical, of a wind) Favorable to a ship's course.
- adjective Favorable, pleasant. “The weather was fair today.”
- adjective Not overcast; cloudless; clear. “a fair sky”
- noun Something which is fair (in various senses of the adjective). “When will we learn to distinguish between the fair and the foul?”
- noun (obsolete) A woman, a member of the ‘fair sex’; also as a collective singular, women.
- noun (obsolete) Fairness, beauty.
- noun A fair woman; a sweetheart.
- noun (obsolete) Good fortune; good luck.
- verb (transitive) To smoothen or even a surface (especially a connection or junction on a surface).
- verb (transitive) To bring into perfect alignment (especially about rivet holes when connecting structural members).
- verb (transitive, art) To make an animation smooth, removing any jerkiness.
- verb (transitive) To construct or design with the aim of producing a smooth outline or reducing air drag or water resistance.
- verb (transitive, obsolete) To make fair or beautiful.
- verb (intransitive, of weather) To become fair (favorable, not stormy).
- adverb Clearly, openly, frankly, civilly, honestly, favorably, auspiciously, agreeably.
Synonyms
beautiful pretty lovely pure clean neat pale honest equitable rightful OK okay to streamline carnival funfair bazaar just fairish reasonable bonny bonnie comely sightly average mediocre middling fairly evenhandedly
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English fayr, from Old English fæġer (“beautiful”), from Proto-West Germanic *fagr, from Proto-Germanic *fagraz (“appropriate, fitting, nice, suitable”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ḱ- (“to attach, join; agreement, settlement”).
Cognate with Old High German and Old Saxon fagar (“beautiful, fair”), Danish fager, favr (“fair, pretty, wonderful”), Faroese and Icelandic fagur (“beautiful, fair”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish fager (“fair, pretty”), Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌲𐍂𐍃 (fagrs, “fair, proper”), Estonian vapper (“brave, courageous”), Finnish vauras (“substantial, wealthy”); also Latin pāx (“peace; ease, quiet, rest”), Umbrian pase (“peace”), Belarusian пе́кны (pjékny, “beautiful”), Czech pěkný (“nice; pretty”), Polish piekny, piękny (“beautiful; admirable, praiseworthy”), Slovak pekný (“nice; pretty”), Sanskrit पाश॑ (pā́śa, “bond, cord, noose; nature, outer world; border, edge, selvage”). See also peace.
From Middle English feyre, from Old French foire, from Latin fēriae.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Free from spots, specks, dirt, or imperfection; unblemished; clean; pure.
- adjective Pleasing to the eye; handsome; beautiful.
- adverb Clearly; openly; frankly; civilly; honestly; favorably; auspiciously; agreeably. Fair and square, justly; honestly; equitably; impartially. [Colloq.] -- To bid fair. See under Bid.
- noun Fairness, beauty. [Obs.] Shak.
Etymology [OE. fair, fayer, fager, AS. fæger; akin to OS. & OHG. fagar, Isel. fagr, Sw. fager, Dan. faver, Goth. fagrs fit, also to E. fay, G. fügen, to fit. fegen to sweep, cleanse, and prob. also to E. fang, peace, pact, Cf. Fang, Fain, Fay to fit.]
Etymology [OE. feire, OF. feire, F. foire, fr. L. fariae, pl., days of rest, holidays, festivals, akin to festus festal. See Feast.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “fair”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details