fan

Someone who likes a person, team, or activity very much.

• I am a football fan.
• Hundreds of fans waited outside the theater.
• Are you a fan of her latest album?

How to use it: fan of someone/something (She is a fan of detective novels.)

Similar words: supporter, admirer, enthusiast

Common phrases: football fan, fan of someone, big fan

An object or machine that moves air to keep people or things cool.

• Turn on the fan, please.
• She cooled her face with a paper fan.
• The fans kept the room comfortable all afternoon.

Common phrases: electric fan, ceiling fan, hand fan

A machine with turning blades that moves air to cool people or equipment.

• The fan is very noisy.
• He switched on the ceiling fan.
• Small fans stop the computers from getting too hot.

Similar words: ventilator

Common phrases: ceiling fan, desk fan, cooling fan

A folding object you hold and wave to move air toward your face.

• She opened her paper fan.
• He waved a fan to cool his face.
• The dancers held brightly painted fans.

Similar words: hand fan

Common phrases: folding fan, paper fan, silk fan

To move air toward someone or something, often by waving an object.

• He fanned his face with a hat.
• We fanned the fire until it burned brightly.
• She was fanning the baby gently in the heat.

How to use it: fan someone/something with something (She fanned herself with a magazine.)

Common phrases: fan yourself, fan the flames, fan someone gently

To spread or move outward in several directions from one place.

• The searchers fanned out.
• Narrow streets fan out from the main square.
• The police fanned out across the field to look for clues.

How to use it: fan out across/through something (The rescuers fanned out across the hillside.); fan out from something (Several paths fan out from the gate.)

Similar words: spread out, disperse

Opposites: converge

Common phrases: fan out, fan out across, fan out from