Fair Meaning
/ˈfɛə/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjBeautiful, of a pleasing appearance, with a pure and fresh quality.
adjUnblemished (figuratively or literally); clean and pure; innocent.
Sentence Examples
No love is foul nor prison fair.
She's got a fair complexion while her brother is very dark.
Theirs are the children with very fair hair.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The judge must be completely ____ and listen to both sides.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The judge's decision was ____ and impartial, based strictly on the evidence presented in court.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English fayr, feir, fager, from Old English fæġer (“beautiful”), from Proto-West Germanic *fagr, from Proto-Germanic *fagraz (“suitable, fitting, nice”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ḱ- (“to fasten, place”). Cognate with Scots fayr, fare (“fair”), Danish feir, faver, fager (“fair, pretty”), Norwegian fager (“fair, pretty”), Swedish fager (“fair, pretty”), Icelandic fagur (“beautiful, fair”), Umbrian pacer (“gracious, merciful, kind”), Slovak pekný (“good-looking, handsome, nice”). See also peace.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"He is so fayre, withoutten les, / he semys full well to sytt on des."
— 15th c., “[The Creation]”, in Wakefield Mystery Plays; Re-edited in George England, Alfred W. Pollard, editors, The Towneley Plays (Early English Text Society Extra Series; LXXI), London: […] Oxford University Press, 1897, →OCLC, page 5, lines 120–121:
"That the ſonnes of God ſaw the daughters of men, that they were faire, and they took them wiues, of all which they choſe."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 6:2, column 1:
""It was a purely scientific research party sent out by my father's father, the Jeddak of Helium, to rechart the air currents, and to take atmospheric density tests," replied the fair prisoner, in a low, well-modulated voice."
— 1912 February–July, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Under the Moons of Mars”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as “Champion and Chief”, in A Princess of Mars, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., October 1917, →OCLC, page 96:
"And yet he was also, though many generations separated them, distant cousin to the shining eoten-main Geard, whom the god Frea Ing had seen from afar and wedded; and to Scatha, the fair daughter of the old thurse Theasa, who had claimed a husband from among the gods as weregild for her father's slaying: often, it was said, the ugliest eotens would sire the fairest maids."
— 2010, Stephan Grundy, Beowulf (Fiction), iUniverse, →ISBN, page 33:
"The Table hauing at the Communion time a faire white linnen cloth vpon it, shall stand in the body of the Church, or in the Chancell, where Morning prayer and Euening prayer be appointed to be said."
— 1605, “The order for the administration of the Lords Supper, or holy Communion”, in The Booke of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments, London: Robert Barker:
Explore More A2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The judge must be completely ____ and listen to both sides.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The judge's decision was ____ and impartial, based strictly on the evidence presented in court.