What does fabulousness mean?
Fabulousness is a noun describing the quality of being fabulous — that is, extraordinarily impressive, delightful, or magnificent. In everyday speech it carries an enthusiastic, informal, and often playful connotation: one might praise the sheer fabulousness of a costume party, a performance, or a friend's new outfit, sometimes with deliberate exaggeration or camp humor. The word derives from "fabulous," which comes from the Latin fabulosus, meaning "celebrated in fable." This origin explains an older, now largely literary sense of the term: the quality of being mythical, legendary, or too extraordinary to be believed, as when writers describe the fabulousness of dragons or distant lands in medieval travelogues. Today that sense is rare, and fabulousness overwhelmingly serves as a celebratory term for excellence and glamour, making it a vivid choice whenever ordinary words like "greatness" or "beauty" feel insufficient.
The quality of being fabulous; extraordinary excellence, splendor, or glamour.
"No one could deny the sheer fabulousness of her red-carpet entrance."
Informal and often playful in register.
The quality of being mythical or incredible — characteristic of fables rather than reality.
"Early maps decorated unknown seas with monsters of pure fabulousness."
A rare, chiefly literary sense.
"Fabulous" once meant exactly what it sounds like — fit only for fables — so calling something full of fabulousness originally meant calling it too wild to believe.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of fabulousness
Fabulousness is formed from the adjective "fabulous" plus the noun-forming suffix "-ness." Fabulous traces back to Latin fabulosus, from fabula, meaning "a tale or fable," which also gives us the English words "fable" and "fabricate." Originally, then, fabulous described things worthy of legend — marvelous to the point of disbelief — and English adopted this sense in the late Middle Ages. By the twentieth century the word had shifted toward general approval, meaning wonderful or outstanding, and fabulousness followed suit as the abstract noun capturing that quality.
Related word forms
How fabulousness is actually used
In contemporary use the word is almost always informal and approving, often with a campy, enthusiastic, or tongue-in-cheek tone popularized by fashion and pop culture. The older sense relating to fables and myth survives mainly in literary contexts.
Easily confused with fabulousness
Fabulosity is a rarer, often playful synonym for fabulousness; the two are near-interchangeable in modern informal usage but fabulosity is not a misspelling.