fancying

verb

present participle of fancy
1
as in imagining
to form a mental picture of try to fancy, if you can, our mother on an elephant when she was touring India

Synonyms & Similar Words

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2
as in enjoying
to take pleasure in the teacher didn't fancy the idea of failing the student, even if he was the class clown

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of fancying At the lower end of the survey’s spectrum and considerably more balanced sits marijuana regulation, with only 31% of respondents considering the topic to be important for people to understand, and 23% of respondents fancying themselves as highly informed on the matter. — Drew Pittock, USA Today, 7 June 2026 And there was a smattering of other items, which the visitor, fancying himself an amateur academic archeologist, thought worth noting. — Ben McGrath, New Yorker, 8 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fancying
  1. imagining
  2. enjoying
  3. seeing
  4. liking
  5. envisioning
  6. savoring
  7. dreaming
  8. loving
Verb
  • Only during the last 12 or 13 months did the team really start imagining ways to bring the phrase to life.
    — Assistant Sports Editor, Los Angeles Times, 29 Oct. 2026
  • And for a genre that has spent decades imagining women’s unsatisfied desires as a threat, that opens up some interesting possibilities.
    — Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 26 Oct. 2026
Definition of imagining
Verb
  • An expensive dance Ryan Mahan sits in a courtyard outside the pavilion, enjoying a break after running his mouth for an hour straight.
    — Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 30 Oct. 2026
  • This family faithfully served their country while living at the highest echelons of their society and enjoying the best creature comforts.
    — Jieun Baek, Foreign Affairs, 30 Oct. 2026
Definition of enjoying
Verb
  • If this sort of shotgun approach to local targeting is a relatively unfamiliar phenomenon in political circles, football fans have long grown used to seeing ads for things that are essentially irrelevant to their own interests.
    — Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 30 Oct. 2026
  • In fact, resilient optimism begins with seeing the problem clearly.
    — Harvard Business Review, Harvard Business Review, 30 Oct. 2026
Definition of seeing
Verb
  • Social convention dictates that you not be caught liking Hoffman’s posts or following her yourself.
    — Ben Smith, semafor.com, 2 Nov. 2026
  • His tool, Reverse Engineer Anything, or REA, lets artificial intelligence agents pull apart programs and reconstitute them to their users’ liking.
    — Peter Hall, Scientific American, 30 Oct. 2026
Definition of liking
Verb
  • In early 1976, Sidney Gibson tried at least twice to make the balloon a centerpiece of a small summer fair, envisioning thousands of people coming to marvel at and ride in the balloon.
    — Théoden Janes, Charlotte Observer, 21 Oct. 2026
  • In an effort to offer something new — and help secure its permanence — the duo are ramping up Cole’s’ culinary offerings, envisioning a return to the kind of dining that might draw guests downtown.
    — Stephanie Breijo, Los Angeles Times, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of envisioning
Verb
  • Taking the pressure off finishing all the food on the plate can instead place emphasis on savoring the sensory experience of each bite.
    — Bryn Beeder, The Conversation, 1 Nov. 2026
  • The series will see the writer travel the globe in pursuit of the idea that savoring life is an act of resistance.
    — Mya Copeland, Variety, 27 Oct. 2026
Definition of savoring
Verb
  • Bart cries wolf the morning after dreaming about dying in a bus crash, but no one believes him.
    — Joshua Kurp, Vulture, 26 Oct. 2026
  • But on Thursday night, Musk showed that there are advantages to dreaming big.
    — Bryan Hood, Robb Report, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of dreaming
Verb
  • Beneath that Taylor Swift-loving exterior, there must be a Bin Laden fighting to get out.
    — Lorraine Ali, Los Angeles Times, 23 Oct. 2026
  • Anderson’s version of the song that put Georgia Satellites on the map is him at his fun-loving best.
    — Josh Crutchmer, Rolling Stone, 23 Oct. 2026
Definition of loving

Browse Nearby Words

fancy-free
fancying
fancying up
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Fancying.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fancying. Accessed 5 Nov. 2026.

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