actifan

English

Etymology

Blend of active +‎ fan.

Noun

actifan (plural actifans or actifen)

1. (dated, fandom slang) A person, particularly a fan of science fiction, involved in fanac or fan activity.
   • 1947 January, Startling Stories, volume 14, number 3:

     If you even read StF you'll do. You don't have to be an actifan, just so you read StF.

   • 1955 Summer, Ted E. White, “The Vizigraph”, in Planet Stories‎^[1], volume 6, number 11, page 92:

     Really, I seem to have reversed things a little by being a letter-hack after becoming an actifan.

   • 1994, Joseph L. Sanders, Science Fiction Fandom‎^[2], →ISBN, page 94:

     Actifans end up feeling they're being forced to pay for other people's "good time" and realize the mere attendance of these other-media fans means they will have to pay (through increased membership fees) for things SF Worldcons once got for free.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:actifan.

Antonyms

• passifan

References

• Jeff Prucher, editor (2007), “actifan”, in Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction, Oxford, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 1.
• Jesse Sheidlower, editor (2001–2024), “actifan n.”, in Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction.

Anagrams

• fanatic