fun (fŭn)
n.

1. A source of enjoyment, amusement, or pleasure.
2. Enjoyment; amusement: have fun at the beach.
3. Playful, often noisy, activity.

intr.v. Informal, funned, fun·ning, funs.
To behave playfully; joke.

adj. Informal
Enjoyable; amusing: "You're a real fun guy" (Margaret Truman).

idiom:

for (or in) fun

1. As a joke; playfully.

[Possibly from fon, to make a fool of, from Middle English fonnen, to fool, possibly from fonne, fool.]

USAGE NOTE   The use of fun as an attributive adjective, as in a fun time, a fun place, probably originated in a playful reanalysis of the use of the word in sentences such as It is fun to ski, where fun has the syntactic function of adjectives such as amusing or enjoyable. The usage became popular in the 1950s and 1960s, though there is some evidence to suggest that it has 19th-century antecedents, but it can still raise eyebrows among traditionalists. The day may come when this usage is entirely unremarkable, but writers may want to avoid it in more formal contexts.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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