What does fabulous mean?
"Fabulous" is an adjective with two related senses. In its dominant modern use it means extraordinarily good, impressive, or wonderful — a word of warm enthusiasm applied to parties, outfits, performances, and experiences alike. Its older sense, still current but less frequent, means difficult to believe or wildly improbable, as when describing an exaggerated tale. Both meanings trace back to the same root: Latin fabula, meaning story or fable. Something fabulous was literally 'of fables,' belonging to the realm of legend rather than fact, and the sense of astonishing excellence grew out of that aura of the marvelous. Today the word is informal to neutral in register and carries a distinctly positive connotation, often intensified by adverbs such as 'absolutely' or 'utterly.' It is a versatile and useful term for expressing delight or admiration in everyday speech and writing.
Extraordinarily good or wonderful.
"The hotel had a fabulous view of the coastline."
Difficult to believe; incredible or implausible.
"She told a fabulous story about a talking cat that no one quite believed."
This older sense is now comparatively rare and tends to appear in formal or literary contexts.
"Fabulous" originally meant "of fables" — so calling something fabulous once implied it was too legendary to be believed.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of fabulous
"Fabulous" comes from the Latin fabulosus, meaning 'celebrated in fable,' derived from fabula (story, tale), itself from fari, 'to speak.' English adopted the word via Old French in the late Middle Ages. Its original sense referred to things existing only in fable or legend; over time this gave rise to both the modern sense of 'incredible' and the positive sense of 'extraordinarily good.' Related words sharing the same Latin root include fable, fabulist, and confabulate.
Related word forms
How fabulous is actually used
In modern usage 'fabulous' is informal-to-neutral and strongly positive when praising people, experiences, or things. The older sense meaning 'hard to believe' survives mainly in formal writing and fixed contexts. It is common as an enthusiastic exclamation ('Fabulous!').
Easily confused with fabulous
'Fabled' describes something famous in legend or story (as in a fabled city), whereas 'fabulous' more commonly means extremely good or wonderful.