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Lexicon.

fanaticism

noun [fəˈnætəˌsɪzəm]
pronunciation CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, open source

Fanaticism is extreme, uncritical devotion to a belief or cause, joined with intolerance of other views and a refusal to let reason or evidence set any limit.

source Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)

Definitions

  1. Zeal for a religion, ideology or cause that has lost all sense of proportion, so that the believer rejects argument, condemns other views and may justify harm done in the cause's name.
    source Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
  2. In older and religious use: wild, self-confident religious excitement in which a person believes they are directly guided by a higher power and ignores reason.
    source Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
  3. In loose, often humorous use: an intense enthusiasm for a hobby, sport, team or artist that goes far beyond ordinary interest.
    source Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)

Examples

Usage

In modern English fanaticism is a strongly negative word when it is used about religion, politics or ideology. People speak of religious, political, ideological and nationalist fanaticism, and the word suggests a believer who can no longer be reasoned with and who sees opponents as enemies. Calling a movement fanatical usually implies that it is dangerous, not merely passionate. In casual speech the word softens: a football supporter, a coffee lover or a runner may be teased for a fanaticism that is really just unusual dedication.

source Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)

The word starts in a temple. Skeat explains fanatic as religiously insane and traces it through French fanatique to Latin fanaticus, which meant first belonging to a temple and then inspired by a divinity, filled with enthusiasm. The root is Latin fanum, a temple, the same word behind the poetic English fane. Skeat cites Milton's phrase Fanatick Egypt in Paradise Lost and an entry in Minsheu's dictionary of 1627, and lists fanatical, fanatically and fanaticism as derived forms.

source Editorial team; facts: W. W. Skeat, An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed., Oxford 1910, open source

Webster (1913) quotes the historian Thomas Fuller, writing in 1660, who called fanatics a new word coined within a few months for the sectaries of his age. Webster defines fanaticism as excessive enthusiasm or unreasoning zeal, especially in religion, and sets it beside superstition. Superstition springs from misdirected religious feeling, while fanaticism comes from the same feeling in high-wrought, self-confident excitement and leads to an utter disregard of reason. The word also has a secondary, political sense.

source Editorial team; facts: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913, open source

Typical adjectives with the noun are blind, religious, political, ideological and violent, and common verbs are fuel, breed, fight and slide into. A person marked by fanaticism is a fanatic, and the related adjective is fanatical. It helps to separate fanaticism from simple zeal: a zealous person works hard for a cause but still listens, while a fanatic rejects objections in advance. Dogmatism is close in meaning, but it describes a rigid way of holding beliefs rather than the burning energy of acting on them.

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Word forms

Regular English noun, mostly uncountable; the plural fanaticisms is rare and refers to particular kinds or instances of fanaticism.

word forms

przypadek forma
singular fanaticism
plural fanaticisms

Word forms: Editorial team

Collocations

Synonyms · Antonyms

Synonyms zealotry, extremism, fervor, bigotry
source Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
Antonyms moderation, tolerance, indifference, open-mindedness
source Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)

Etymology

Skeat derives fanatic through French fanatique from Latin fanaticus, belonging to a temple, inspired by a divinity, from fanum, a temple, and treats fanaticism as a derived form. Webster (1913) gives the same Latin source and also records the rare form fanatism, from French fanatisme, with a reference to Gibbon.
source W. W. Skeat, An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed., Oxford 1910, open source
also Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913, open source

Related words

Related entries

Questions and answers

What does fanaticism mean?

Fanaticism means devotion to an idea, faith or leader so intense that it shuts out criticism and tolerates no other view. A fanatic treats their own convictions as the only truth and will not accept counterarguments.

source Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)

Where does the word fanaticism come from?

The source is Latin fanaticus, which described someone belonging to a temple (fanum) and later someone inspired by a divinity. English took fanatic through French fanatique and built fanaticism from it.

source W. W. Skeat, An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed., Oxford 1910, open source

What is the difference between fanaticism and superstition?

Webster (1913) explains that superstition grows out of religious feeling that is misdirected or unenlightened. Fanaticism grows out of that feeling when it becomes intensely excited and sure of itself, and it ends in an utter disregard of reason.

source Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913, open source

Is being a big fan the same as fanaticism?

Not usually. A fan simply likes an artist, team or show very much. People speak of fanaticism when that enthusiasm loses all proportion, crowds out good sense or turns against people with different tastes or views.

source Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)