Fabian

Meanings

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.
• 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.
• 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 from Latin borne by an early pope. Rare in English.

Origin

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