fair

Less common meanings

10. 10
    rides and gamesnouncountable

    A traveling amusement park, known in Britain as a funfair and in the US as a carnival.

    Every summer the fair sets up on the empty lot with rides, games, and cotton candy.

    The children begged to go on the spinning teacups when the fair arrived.

    Similarcarnival

11. 11
    baseballadjective

    In baseball, on or between the foul lines that run from home plate past first and third base to the outfield fence.

    The umpire signaled the ball fair as it bounced inside the first-base line.

    A fair ball that rolls past the infielders can become a double.

    Oppositefoul

    Note

    Baseball's opposite of foul. A fair ball is one batted into fair territory, which takes in the foul lines themselves. The word serves as an umpire's ruling and as an ordinary adjective, either before the noun (a fair ball) or after it (the hit was fair). Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • A fair ball need not land: it can strike a foul pole or be caught. Landing between the lines alone is also insufficient before first or third base. en.wikipedia.org
    • A fair ball can become dead, including when it leaves the playing field or touches a runner under specified conditions. mktg.mlbstatic.com
    • Umpires signal a fair ball by pointing toward fair territory, without saying fair. sunnyvalelittleleague.com
12. 12
    unbiased (coin)adjective

    Of a coin or die, unbiased, so that every side is equally likely to land face up.

    A fair coin has a 50 percent probability of landing heads on each toss.

    Before the game, she rolled the die a hundred times to check whether it was fair.

    Similarunbiased

    Oppositebiased, loaded, weighted

    Note

    The statistician's idealized coin or die, on which every outcome is equally likely; a fair coin comes up heads half the time. It works as a baseline, since a real die counts as biased to the degree it departs from the fair case. The link to the "just" meaning is easy to hear: a fair die favors no player. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • Fair coins and dice are idealized models with equally probable outcomes. en.wiktionary.org
    • A fair coin has probability one half of landing heads. en.wikipedia.org
    • Bias in a die means departure from the equal outcome probabilities of a fair die. en.wikipedia.org
13. 13
    adjective

    Favorable and pleasant; working in one's favor rather than against it.

    He won the villagers over with fair words and an open manner.

    Conditions looked fair for the expedition's final push to the summit.

    Similarfavorable, promising, auspicious, pleasant, kind

    Oppositeunfavorable, adverse, unpromising, inauspicious

14. 14
    pureadjective

    Clean and pure; unblemished, whether literally or figuratively; innocent.

    No breath of scandal had ever touched her fair name.

    She wrote out a fair copy of the letter, without a single blot.

    Similarclean, pure

    Oppositetainted, sullied, blemished, foul

    Note

    Cleanness is the core here, and it survives best in fixed phrases. A fair copy is the clean version written out once a draft's corrections are made, and one's fair name is a reputation without stain. Older writers applied it freely to things: Robert Hooke's Micrographia (1665) speaks of "fair Water," meaning simply clean water. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • Robert Hooke wrote Micrographia. gutenberg.org
    • Micrographia was first published in 1665. en.wikisource.org
    • Micrographia contains the exact phrase “fair Water.” gutenberg.org
    • Hooke's “fair Water” exemplifies the historical meaning clean or pure. en.wiktionary.org
15. 15
    clear upverbintransitive

    Of the weather, to become favorable: clear and no longer stormy.

    The captain hoped the weather would fair before they reached open water.

    Toward evening the sky faired and the stars came out.

    Similarclear, brighten, improve

    Oppositeworsen, deteriorate, darken

    Note

    Weather is the usual subject. Percival Lowell writes in Noto (1891) that "the weather faired," and the journey went on. It is the verb form of the clear-weather adjective, and it is intransitive: the weather fairs, but nobody fairs it. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • Percival Lowell wrote Noto: An Unexplored Corner of Japan, first published in 1891. archive.org
    • Lowell's own travel narrative contains “the weather faired,” followed by continued travel. gutenberg.org
    • The weather verb corresponds to the adjective fair and is intransitive in this sense. en.wiktionary.org
16. 16
    adjective

    Of a catch, made cleanly from an opponent's kick, now chiefly in American football after the catcher signals. In rugby union it is called a mark.

    He signaled for a fair catch the instant the ball left the kicker's boot.

    Because the punt returner waved for a fair catch, the defender who hit him drew a penalty.

    Note

    A kicking-game word for a clean catch. A fair catch comes straight off an opponent's boot, and the ball touches neither the ground nor another player on the way. It lives almost entirely in the phrase fair catch, now chiefly in American football, where the catcher signals first. Rugby union calls it a mark, which earns a free kick when taken in the catcher's own 22 with a shout of "mark." Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • The catch is taken directly from an opponent's kick before the ball touches the ground or another player. passport.world.rugby
    • A mark requires the prescribed position on or behind the catcher's own 22-metre line and a simultaneous call of 'mark'. Kick-offs and restarts after a score are excluded. A correctly claimed mark earns a free kick. passport.world.rugby
17. 17
    noununcountable

    A thing or person regarded as fair in any of its senses, whether just, beautiful, or pleasing.
18. 18
    almostadverbdialectal

    Almost completely; to a great extent, though not meant literally.

    He was fair beside himself with worry by the time they arrived.

    The wind in Galway was so strong it fair knocked me off my feet.

    UsagePlaced right before a verb, adjective, or phrase: fair worn out, it fair knocked me over. A spoken use that suits dialogue.

    Similarquite, positively, practically

    Note

    An intensifier of Irish and British dialect speech, placed right before a verb or participle: "fair moidered" in James Johnston Abraham's The Night Nurse (1913), and feet "fair killing me" in Dorothy Mitchell's Hollybeck (2011). It exaggerates rather than measures. Source

    Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • James Johnston Abraham wrote The Night Nurse, first published in 1913. dib.ie
    • The Night Nurse contains the wording "fair moidered". en.wiktionary.org
    • Dorothy Mitchell's Hollybeck contains "fair killing me", referring to feet. en.wiktionary.org
19. 19
    cricketadjective

    Of a delivery in cricket, bowled legally, so that it is neither a no-ball nor a wide and counts toward the over.

    The replay showed part of his front foot behind the line, so the delivery was fair.

    Each fair ball counts toward the six deliveries of the over.

    Similarlegal

    Oppositeillegal

    Note

    Cricket defines it by what it is not: a fair delivery is one that is neither a no-ball nor a wide. The distinction matters for counting, because only legal deliveries complete the six that make an over. A bowler who oversteps the line has bowled a ball that does not count toward the over. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • A fair delivery is a legal delivery, excluding no-balls and wides. en.wikipedia.org
    • An over comprises six valid deliveries. lords.org
    • Overstepping the popping crease when the front foot lands results in a no-ball. en.wikipedia.org
    • A no-ball does not count toward completion of the over. lords.org
20. 20
    sailing windadjective

    Of the wind, tide, or weather, favorable to the course a ship is sailing.

    With a fair wind, the schooner made the crossing in record time.

    We left the marina at dawn, hoping a fair tide would carry us through the narrow channel.

    Similarfavorable

    Oppositefoul, contrary, adverse, unfavorable

    Note

    A sailor's word, said above all of the wind. A fair wind blows the way the ship wants to go; Richard Francis Burton's translation of the Nights, at Night 563, sails "with a fair wind" until a city comes in view. It differs from the clear-sky meaning: what makes a wind fair is its direction, not the brightness of the day. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • A fair wind is favorable to the ship’s course; this concerns direction rather than clear skies. en.wiktionary.org
    • Richard Francis Burton translated the Nights. gutenberg.org
    • Night 563 contains the exact phrase “with a fair wind,” in Sindbad the Seaman’s account of sailing to a city. gutenberg.org
21. 21
    adjective

    Of a road, passage, or the like, free from obstacles; unobstructed, open, and direct.

    The caliphs obtained a mighty empire, which was in a fair way to have enlarged.

    c. 1610, Walter Raleigh, A Discourse of War

    a fair mark; in fair sight; a fair view

    Similarclear, open, unobstructed, direct

    Oppositeobstructed, blocked

    Note

    Openness is the idea: nothing stands between you and the thing, as in a fair view, in fair sight, or a fair mark to aim at. The old phrase in a fair way to, meaning "on a clear path toward," grows from it. Walter Raleigh writes of a caliphs' empire that "was in a fair way to have enlarged." Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • Fair has the unobstructed sense illustrated by fair view, in fair sight, and fair mark. en.wiktionary.org
    • In a fair way to expresses a promising prospect of reaching something. en.wiktionary.org
    • Walter Raleigh wrote the quoted words about the caliphs' empire. en.wiktionary.org
22. 22
    nounarchaiccountable

    A woman, especially a beautiful one or the woman one loves; also, women in general.

    I have found out a gift for my fair.

    1743, William Shenstone, A Pastoral Ballad

    Note

    Here the noun names one woman, the beloved, usually with a possessive in front of it. William Shenstone's A Pastoral Ballad (written in 1743) has "I have found out a gift for my fair." Without the possessive, as in the fair, writers of the period could mean women in general. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • Fair can name an individual sweetheart, as in my fair. en.wiktionary.org
    • William Shenstone wrote A Pastoral Ballad, which contains the quoted line. en.wikisource.org
    • 1743 is its composition year. The four-part poem appeared in Dodsley's collection in 1755; an earlier version appeared in 1751. competitionandappropriation.econ.ucla.edu
    • The fair could mean women collectively, but could also mean an individual beloved. Shenstone uses it that way in this same poem. eighteenthcenturypoetry.org
23. 23
    smooth a surfaceverbtransitive

    To smooth or shape a surface, or the joins between parts, so that it has an even, flowing outline, especially to reduce air or water resistance.

    The boatbuilder faired the hull so no ridges interrupted its surface.

    Welders fair the joints between plates before painting the structure.

    Similarsmooth, streamline

    Note

    The working verb behind the shipwright's "smooth-lined" adjective. To fair a surface is to work it until it is fair in that sense, especially where two parts meet and a ridge or step would show. It is a regular verb (fairs, fairing, faired), and the craft verbs that follow all grow from this one.

24. 24
    verbobsoletetransitive

    To make something beautiful; to give a fair or pleasing appearance to.

    Fairing the foul with art’s false borrow’d face

    1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 127”

    Note

    An obsolete verb made straight from the "beautiful" meaning: to fair was to beautify. Shakespeare's Sonnet 127 (1609) shows it at work, with cosmetics "Fairing the foul with art's false borrow'd face." A reader meeting faired today will almost always be looking at the living craft verb instead. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • Fair had an obsolete transitive sense meaning to beautify. en.wiktionary.org
    • Sonnet 127 is by William Shakespeare and contains the quoted line. en.wikipedia.org
    • Sonnet 127 was first published in 1609. folger.edu
    • The quoted line concerns the use of cosmetics to create beauty. en.wikipedia.org
25. 25
    nounobsolete

    Beauty; loveliness of appearance; the quality of being fair to look upon.

    Note

    The adjective turned into an abstract noun: fair as beauty itself. Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors (1623) laments "my decayed fair." In older verse, do not mistake it for the "sweetheart" noun. That one names a person; this one names a quality. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Fair has an abstract noun sense meaning beauty, corresponding to the adjective. en.wiktionary.org
    • The sweetheart noun denotes a person, whereas the beauty noun denotes a quality. en.wiktionary.org
26. 26
    nouncountable

    A gathering built around one subject, such as science, careers, or health, where people exhibit their projects or organizations hand out information and seek recruits.

    More than forty employers set up booths at the campus career fair to collect résumés from graduating seniors.

    The students spent weeks on their experiments, and the top three from the regional fair advanced to the state competition.

    UsageThe topic goes in front as a noun: science fair, career fair, job fair, health fair.

    Similarexpo, exhibition

    Note

    Unlike the trade fair, where people in one business meet to deal with each other, this kind is aimed at students, job seekers or the public, and its exhibitors often come to inform or recruit rather than to sell. School science fairs are usually judged, with winners moving on to a higher round. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

    • Trade fairs bring industry participants together to meet potential suppliers and buyers. en.wikipedia.org
    • Career and job fairs serve job seekers and support recruitment. en.wikipedia.org
    • Health fairs provide information and services to the public. georgiaruralhealth.org
    • School science fairs commonly judge projects and select winners. austinscience.org
    • Science-fair competitions provide advancement to higher rounds. societyforscience.org
27. 27
    adjective

    Of a vessel's figure, surfaces, or water lines, smooth and flowing, without any sudden change of direction or curvature.
28. 28
    verb

    To make an animation smooth, removing any jerkiness from the motion.
29. 29
    verb

    To align parts exactly, especially to make the rivet holes of structural members line up when joining them.
30. 30
    nounobsolete

    Good luck or a fortunate outcome.

    Now, fair befall thee, good Petruchio!

    c. 1590, William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”