FAIR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does fair mean? 

• FAIR (noun)
  The noun FAIR has 4 senses:

1. a traveling show; having sideshows and rides and games of skill etc.

2. gathering of producers to promote business

3. a competitive exhibition of farm products

4. a sale of miscellany; often for charity

  Familiarity information: FAIR used as a noun is uncommon.

• FAIR (adjective)
  The adjective FAIR has 10 senses:

1. free from favoritism or self-interest or bias or deception; conforming with established standards or rules

2. not excessive or extreme

3. very pleasing to the eye

4. (of a baseball) hit between the foul lines

5. lacking exceptional quality or ability

6. attractively feminine

7. (of a manuscript) having few alterations or corrections

8. gained or earned without cheating or stealing

9. free of clouds or rain

10. (used of hair or skin) pale or light-colored

  Familiarity information: FAIR used as an adjective is familiar.

• FAIR (verb)
  The verb FAIR has 1 sense:

1. join so that the external surfaces blend smoothly

  Familiarity information: FAIR used as a verb is very rare.

• FAIR (adverb)
  The adverb FAIR has 2 senses:

1. in conformity with the rules or laws and without fraud or cheating

2. without favoring one party, in a fair evenhanded manner

  Familiarity information: FAIR used as an adverb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FAIR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A traveling show; having sideshows and rides and games of skill etc.

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

carnival; fair; funfair

Hypernyms ("fair" is a kind of...):

show (the act of publicly exhibiting or entertaining)

Meronyms (parts of "fair"):

midway (the place at a fair or carnival where sideshows and similar amusements are located)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Gathering of producers to promote business

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Context example:

book fair

Hypernyms ("fair" is a kind of...):

assemblage; gathering (a group of persons together in one place)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "fair"):

book fair; bookfair (fair organized by publishers or booksellers to promote the sale of books)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A competitive exhibition of farm products

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Context example:

she won a blue ribbon for her baking at the county fair

Hypernyms ("fair" is a kind of...):

exhibition; expo; exposition (a collection of things (goods or works of art etc.) for public display)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A sale of miscellany; often for charity

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

bazaar; fair

Context example:

the church bazaar

Hypernyms ("fair" is a kind of...):

cut-rate sale; sale; sales event (an occasion (usually brief) for buying at specially reduced prices)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "fair"):

book fair; bookfair (bazaar at which books are sold or auctioned off in order to raise funds for a worthy cause)

craft fair (a fair at which objects made by craftsmen are offered for sale)

• FAIR (adjective)

Declension: comparative and superlative

Sense 1

Meaning:

Free from favoritism or self-interest or bias or deception; conforming with established standards or rules

Synonyms:

fair; just

Context example:

by fair means or foul

Similar:

antimonopoly; antitrust (of laws and regulations; designed to protect trade and commerce from unfair business practices)

clean; sporting; sportsmanlike; sporty (exhibiting or calling for sportsmanship or fair play)

fair-minded (of a person; just and impartial; not prejudiced)

fair-and-square (just and honest)

Also:

just (used especially of what is legally or ethically right or proper or fitting)

impartial (showing lack of favoritism)

reasonable; sensible (showing reason or sound judgment)

Attribute:

equity; fairness (conformity with rules or standards)

Antonym:

unfair (not fair; marked by injustice or partiality or deception)

Derivation:

fairness (conformity with rules or standards)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Not excessive or extreme

Synonyms:

fair; fairish; reasonable

Context example:

reasonable prices

Similar:

moderate (being within reasonable or average limits; not excessive or extreme)

Derivation:

fairness (conformity with rules or standards)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Very pleasing to the eye

Synonyms:

bonnie; bonny; comely; fair; sightly

Context example:

young fair maidens

Similar:

beautiful (delighting the senses or exciting intellectual or emotional admiration)

Derivation:

fairness (the quality of being good looking and attractive)

Sense 4

Meaning:

(of a baseball) hit between the foul lines

Context example:

he hit a fair ball over the third base bag

Similar:

in-bounds (between the first and third base lines)

Domain category:

ball; baseball; baseball game (a ball game played with a bat and ball between two teams of nine players; teams take turns at bat trying to score runs)

Antonym:

foul ((of a baseball) not hit between the foul lines)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Lacking exceptional quality or ability

Synonyms:

average; fair; mediocre; middling

Context example:

the performance was middling at best

Similar:

ordinary (not exceptional in any way especially in quality or ability or size or degree)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Attractively feminine

Context example:

the fair sex

Similar:

feminine (associated with women and not with men)

Derivation:

fairness (the quality of being good looking and attractive)

Sense 7

Meaning:

(of a manuscript) having few alterations or corrections

Synonyms:

clean; fair

Context example:

a clean manuscript

Similar:

legible ((of handwriting, print, etc.) capable of being read or deciphered)

Sense 8

Meaning:

Gained or earned without cheating or stealing

Synonyms:

fair; honest

Context example:

an fair penny

Similar:

equitable; just (fair to all parties as dictated by reason and conscience)

Sense 9

Meaning:

Free of clouds or rain

Context example:

today will be fair and warm

Similar:

clear (free from clouds or mist or haze)

Sense 10

Meaning:

(used of hair or skin) pale or light-colored

Synonyms:

fair; fairish

Context example:

a fair complexion

Similar:

blond; blonde; light-haired (being or having light colored skin and hair and usually blue or grey eyes)

Derivation:

fairness (the property of having a naturally light complexion)

• FAIR (verb)

Conjugation:

Sense 1

Meaning:

Join so that the external surfaces blend smoothly

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "fair" is one way to...):

join (cause to become joined or linked)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

• FAIR (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

In conformity with the rules or laws and without fraud or cheating

Synonyms:

clean; fair; fairly

Context example:

they played fairly

Sense 2

Meaning:

Without favoring one party, in a fair evenhanded manner

Synonyms:

evenhandedly; fair; fairly

Context example:

deal fairly with one another

 Context examples 

Beth declared she wouldn't go to the fair at all, and Jo demanded why she didn't take all her pretty things and leave those mean people to get on without her.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

You will flutter high, but your wings are of the finest gauze, dusted with the fairest pigments.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I set up my sail, the wind being fair, with a design to reach the nearest of those islands, which I made a shift to do, in about three hours.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

She couldn't say fairer than that.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He avoided tight places and always backed out of it when they bade fair to surround him.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Nothing in human shape could have destroyed the fair child. He was the murderer! I could not doubt it.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

I think I must admit so fair a guest when it asks entrance to my heart.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

It is a very fair match, as times go; and I have liked Charles Hayter all my life, and I shall not leave off now.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Of course it is fair shares between us.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I know, this is not fair.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)