fortean
Syllables: For·te·an/ˈfɔː.tɪ.ən/US/ˈfɔɹ.ti.ən/
fortean is the alternative form of Fortean.
Noun capitalized: Fortean
Fortean (plural Forteans)
- A follower or admirer of Charles Fort.
- Stories about alligators in the sewers have been of particular interest, however, to Forteans (followers of Charles Fort). Forteans contend that many happenings derided by the official science of the Western world (falls of frogs from clear skies, the appearance of lake monsters, mystery beasts and...1996, Loren Coleman, “Alligators in the Sewers”, in Gillian Bennett, Paul Smith, editors, Contemporary Legend: A Reader (New Perspectives in Folklore; 4; Garland Reference Library of the Humanities...
- One who investigates anomalous phenomena.
- Not long afterwards, Fortean writer Paul Harris contacted me concerning this putative sea serpent, kindly supplying me with a couple of newspaper cuttings […] that contained photos of its remains, plus various additional details that he had gathered during his own investigation of this case.2003, Karl P. N. Shuker, “Bring Me the Head of the Sea Serpent!”, in The Beasts that Hide from Man: Seeking the World’s Last Undiscovered Animals, New York, N.Y.: Paraview Press, →ISBN, page 244
- Morandir [Armson] is also a traveller, a food blogger, a scholar of the occult, an amateur cook, a martial artist, an enthusiastic Fortean, and a transplant recipient.2013, “Contributors”, in Alex Norman, editor, Journeys and Destinations: Studies in Travel, Identity, and Meaning, Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, →ISBN, page 287
Adjective capitalized: Fortean
Fortean (comparative more Fortean, superlative most Fortean)
- Of or pertaining to anomalous phenomena.
- Ufology is a somewhat Fortean subject.
- Charles Fort died in 1932, fifteen years before the flying-saucer craze began. It is a pity he did not live to witness this mass mania, because in many ways, it was a triumph of pure Forteanism. Mysterious objects are seen in the sky. They elude all "official" and "scientific" explanation. Wild...1957, Martin Gardner, “Flying Saucers”, in Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science, 2nd rev. and exp. edition, Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, →OCLC, page 55
- Of or pertaining to Charles Fort.
Forms of fortean
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | forteans |
| plural | Forteans |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more fortean |
| superlative | most fortean |
| comparative | more Fortean |
| superlative | most Fortean |
| alternative form | fortean |
Origin of fortean
From Fort + -ean, named after Charles Hoy Fort (1874–1932), an American writer and investigator of anomalous phenomena. The word was coined by American journalist Ben Hecht (1894–1964) in a review of Fort’s book The Book of the Damned (1919) in the Chicago Daily News in 1920.
Questions about fortean
- What does fortean mean?
- Fortean means a follower or admirer of Charles Fort.
- What is fortean the alternative form of?
- Fortean is the alternative form of Fortean.
- What part of speech is fortean?
- Fortean can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce fortean?
- Fortean is pronounced /ˈfɔː.tɪ.ən/ (UK).
- What is the plural of fortean?
- The plural of fortean is forteans.
Words near fortean in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: fortean (page history and authors); Fortean (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Fortean.wav.
Cite this entry: “fortean.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fortean. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.