as in playful
given to good-natured joking or teasing
with her slight build and perky manner, the actress was usually cast as the fay young woman who charms all the men in town
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in fairy
an imaginary being usually having a small human form and magical powers
in the tale a fay appears in the form of a beautiful and serene woman with an angelic air and a billowy gown
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of fay
Rob Salkowitz, Forbes, 27 Feb. 2025
Almshouse dwellers, sitting in the sun, watching the surging tide and the glistening water, tell of spirits and banshees and fays.
—Alexander Sammon, Harper's Magazine, 25 June 2022
Noun
The series stars McGregor as Count Rostov, a fay member of Czarist Russia’s ruling class, who was living in comfort in his estates until the revolution of 1917 overthrew the old order.
—Rob Salkowitz, Forbes, 27 Feb. 2025
Almshouse dwellers, sitting in the sun, watching the surging tide and the glistening water, tell of spirits and banshees and fays.
—Alexander Sammon, Harper's Magazine, 25 June 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fay
Adjective
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As the twins of the zodiac, Gemini parents are playful, adaptable, and quick on their feet.—
Kara Nesvig,
Parents,
15 July 2025
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White, who goes by Baby J, was described by cousin Raven Jackson as sweet, playful and charismatic.—
Madeline Heim,
jsonline.com,
13 July 2025
Adjective
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The Lower East Side location is now home to Comal—a new, eclectic Mexican restaurant from chef Gaz Herbert, a Cuernavaca native—and the same downtown crowd seems to have found its merry way there.—
Air Mail,
Air Mail,
19 July 2025
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History doesn’t record whether this plea was met with a merry hail of fat envelopes or with silence.—
Daniel Seifert,
JSTOR Daily,
16 July 2025
Noun
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Thor: The Dark World' (2013) Chris Hemsworth’s thunder god has a sequel that’s a blender of familiar fantasy tropes as Thor and love interest Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) have to deal with a dark elf with an Infinity Stone.—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
25 July 2025
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In contrast, Tolkien imagined elves as elegant and refined, while humans had the capacity to be as barbaric as orcs, or as noble as elves.—
Dani Di Placido,
Forbes.com,
7 July 2025
Noun
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The Unseelie Court is the bastion of malevolent faeries who harm humans for their amusement or to exact revenge.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes,
27 Nov. 2024
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For instance, people used to hang iron on their doors at night to keep faeries and demons out of their homes (talismans) and a knock on the door in the middle of the night was to be ignored, for surely some evil spirit was lurking outside.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes,
27 Nov. 2024
Noun
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In fact, Bolg is the name of a goblin prince from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit.—
Margherita Bassi,
Smithsonian Magazine,
20 June 2025
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Brown and Kountz play Luna and Marvin, a couple who moves to Evergreen Lane with a passion for goblins and ghouls that inspires the whole neighborhood to go all in.—
Elizabeth Fogarty,
Better Homes & Gardens,
23 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Fay.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fay. Accessed 29 Jul. 2025.
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