Synonyms:
| belief, | desire, | imagination, | predilection, |
| caprice, | humor, | inclination, | supposition, |
| conceit, | idea, | liking, | vagary, |
| conception, | image, | mood, | whim. |
An intellectual fancy is a mental image or picture founded upon slight or whimsical association or resemblance; a conceit has less of the picturesque and more of the theoretic than a fancy; a conceit is somewhat aside from the common laws of reasoning, as a fancy is lighter and more airy than the common mode of thought. A conceit or fancy may be wholly unfounded, while a conception always has, or is believed to have, some answering reality. (Compare [REASON].) An intellectual fancy or conceit may be pleasing or amusing, but is never worth serious discussion; we speak of a mere fancy, a droll or odd conceit. An emotional or personal fancy is a capricious liking formed with slight reason and[168] no exercise of judgment, and liable to fade as lightly as it was formed. In a broader sense, the fancy signifies the faculty by which fancies or mental images are formed, associated, or combined. Compare synonyms for [DREAM]; [IDEA]; [IMAGINATION].
Antonyms:
| actuality, | certainty, | fact, | reality, | truth, | verity. |
Prepositions:
To have a fancy for or take a fancy to a person or thing.