fan base

noun

plural fan bases

: a group of fans for a particular sport, musical group, celebrity, book or film franchise, etc.

… the Los Angeles Lakers and the Milwaukee Bucks—the last two NBA champions—had fan bases spending the most money on team merchandise and gear.

—Corey Davis

Yet her three albums with the Epic label failed to earn her a popular audience, beyond country's traditional fan base …

—Martha A. Hostetter

But sales figures don't fully capture the fan base among shojo readers, who can whip through a volume in half an hour in a bookstore and often pass along copies to friends.

—Sarah Glazer

The fervent passion of [Justin] Bieber's fan base almost obscured the rampant self-indulgence of his hour-and-a-half set.

—Ben Fisher

Examples of fan base in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

His lyrics veer toward the autobiographical and he’s grown a fan base writing with honesty about depression, his struggles with drug use and relationships. —Kevin Dolak, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Apr. 2024

The 1997 biopic about her life introduced her to people outside her fan base and to those born after her death. —Kayla Randall, Smithsonian Magazine, 16 Apr. 2024

As the Grateful Dead hit the road in the ‘80s and ‘90s, 420 became synonymous with the band’s fan base for lighting up the bud. —Brayden Garcia, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 16 Apr. 2024

The proof of concept is already there in that the fan base already exists. —Quartz Staff, Quartz, 16 Apr. 2024

What a joy to watch Rolex’s fan base get all worked up over a slightly narrower lug on the Submariner, or the inclusion of a minuscule movement upgrade in the Oyster Perpetual, or—OMG! —a Jubilee bracelet on a six-digit GMT Master II. —Allen Farmelo, Robb Report, 10 Apr. 2024

The Aces already have an avid fan base and sold out five games ahead of the season's start. —Caitlin O'Kane, CBS News, 8 Apr. 2024

On that score, the league is doing pretty well, in no small part because of its work in building a younger fan base. —Bill Shaikin, Los Angeles Times, 29 Mar. 2024

Members of the Oakland Athletics’ devoted fan base are livid after the team’s owners announced Thursday that the A’s would relocate to Sacramento starting next year, a move some said would forever stain Major League Baseball. —Ari Plachta, Sacramento Bee, 4 Apr. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1974, in the meaning defined above