Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of or relating to the caution and avoidance of direct confrontation typical of the Roman general Quintus Fabius Maximus.
  • adjective Cautious or dilatory, as in taking action.
  • adjective Of, relating to, or being a member of the Fabian Society, which was committed to gradual rather than revolutionary means for spreading socialist principles.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Delaying; dilatory; avoiding battle, in the manner of Quintus Fabius Maximus, a Roman general, who in conducting military operations against Hannibal declined to risk a battle in the open field, but harassed the enemy by marches, countermarches, and ambuscades.
  • Designating a variety or school of socialism more flexible and opportunist than the socialism of Marx and the International, and laying emphasis on municipal experiments in public ownership. See Fabian Society.
  • noun A member of the Fabian Society.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of, pertaining to, or in the manner of, the Roman general, Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus; cautious; dilatory; avoiding a decisive contest.
  • adjective a policy like that of Fabius Maximus, who, by carefully avoiding decisive contests, foiled Hannibal, harassing his army by marches, countermarches, and ambuscades; a policy of delays and cautions.
  • adjective Of or pertaining to the Roman gens Fabia.
  • adjective Designating, or pertaining to, a society of socialists, organized in England in 1884 to spread socialistic principles gradually without violent agitation.
  • noun A member of, or sympathizer with, the Fabian Society.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Pertaining to or reminiscent of Roman general Fabius Maximus, whose tactics against Hannibal during the Second Punic War famously consisted of delaying or avoiding combat, focusing instead on weakening the enemy by cutting off supply lines.
  • adjective Advocating that social reforms be reached through a series of gradual and moderate stages rather than sudden revolution; specifically, relating to the Fabian Society, a British socialist society advocating reformist socialism.
  • adjective by extension cautious; dilatory; avoiding a decisive contest.
  • noun A Fabian socialist, a gradualist socialist; a member of the Fabian Society.
  • proper noun A male given name borne by an early pope. Rare in English.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective using cautious slow strategy to wear down opposition; avoiding direct confrontation
  • noun a member of the Fabian Society in Britain
  • adjective of or relating to Fabianism

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin Fabiānus, after Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin Fabianus ("belonging to Fabius"), possibly derived from faba ("bean").

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Examples

  • Karina Fabian is an award winning writer and the President of the Catholic Writers Guild, and has four kids and only five pets.

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  • Karina Fabian is an award winning writer and the President of the Catholic Writers Guild, and has four kids and only five pets.

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  • Magic, Mensa & Mayhem is set in Fabian's Dragon Eye P.I. universe, where a nuclear disaster in Colorado has opened a rift in space-time leading to Faerie, an alternate Earth populated by the usual array of legendary and mythological beings, where much of the world more-or-less resembles a fantasy version of Medieval Europe.

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  • "Fabian is a great champion ... (but) my form is very good," the 26-year-old Spaniard said.

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  • Magic, Mensa & Mayhem is set in Fabian's Dragon Eye P.I. universe, where a nuclear disaster in Colorado has opened a rift in space-time leading to Faerie, an alternate Earth populated by the usual array of legendary and mythological beings, where much of the world more-or-less resembles a fantasy version of Medieval Europe.

    Book Review: Magic, Mensa and Mayhem 2010

  • Fabian is a rider I have always wanted on my team,” Andersen explained.

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  • Karina Fabian is hard at work on the Online Writer's Conference that will be held the week of May 9.

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  • He was often described as a Fabian socialist rather than an orthodox communist.

    Rocket News 2010

  • He was often described as a Fabian socialist rather than an orthodox communist.

    Rocket News 2010

  • “The only solution was to fight a defensive --- what they called a Fabian strategy --- or a war of posts.

    Historian: Iraq War Violates America's "Historic Identity" 2008

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