Fanatic

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Pronunciation: /fəˈnaʔɪk/

Definitions

1. A person with an extreme and uncompromising devotion to a cause, belief, or activity that often leads to intolerance of opposing views
2. Someone possessed by intense, all-consuming zeal for a particular ideology or pursuit who dismisses or condemns those holding different convictions
3. An individual gripped by passionate, unwavering commitment to a doctrine or hobby to the point of rejecting alternative perspectives and moderate positions

Etymology: Ancient Romans used "fanaticus" for someone seized by a god's frenzy, particularly the priests and devotees who ran wild at temples. The Latin root is "fanum," a temple or sacred place, so a "fanaticus" was literally a person of the temple, inspired or possessed there. The sense was religious ecstasy, not disapproval. English first recorded the word in 1525, borrowed directly from Latin "fanaticus," with French "fanatique" reinforcing the spelling. For more than a century it kept that neutral-to-admiring religious flavour, describing someone divinely inspired or ecstatic, and the derogatory sense of excessive, blind zeal only took firm hold later, as religious and political conflicts made extremism look dangerous rather than holy.

Synonyms: zealot, enthusiast, devotee, fervent, diehard

Antonyms: apathetic, indifferent, moderate, casual, uninterested