Crossword Dictionary
FANATICAL
fanatic, fanatical, overzealous, rabid - a
marked by excessive enthusiasm for and intense devotion to a cause or idea; "rabid isolationist"
Synonyms
bigoted, dogmatic, enthusiastic, fervent, frenzied, impassioned, narrow-minded, obsessive, passionate, rabid, single-minded, stubborn, violent, zealous
Examples
Top of the range Scotches attract a fanatical following among whisky buffs.
Fanatical, uncultured leaders, little versed in modern science, can not give us a solution.
Its boasts about fanatical recruits lining up for paradise through the martyrdom of suicide-bombing may be bluster.
Etymology
Fanatical comes from the word fanatic, which itself came from the Latin fanaticus, meaning "mad" or "inspired by a deity." The root word is fanum, or "temple." The original English meanings of both fanatic and fanatical implied that the person being described was insane with enthusiasm, like a religious zealot. The word fan is likely shortened from fanatic, and thus shares the same roots, but that word doesn't imply the same obsessiveness that fanatical does.