Meanings
- datedslanguncountablelifestyleUrgent, high-priority fan activity.
It may still be a little bit before I can add a.f.i-m back into my list of online crifanac, but I do hope to be back before too long.
1998 August 9, Dave Locke, “Re: Critical Mass (and where in the world is Dave Locke???)”, in alt.fan.inspector-morse (Usenet), message-ID <35cd9d1a.55797347@news.pipeline.com>3 more examples
Come to think of it, I certainly don't envy you all the work involved. Gad, you must be superhuman, or at least superdevoted to crifanac!
1955 January, Art Rapp, “Through Rain”, in Abstract, number 9This is a matter of degree, and depending on the extent to which a given fan indulges in anything more than local club activity he may be distinguished as an actifan (as opposed to passifen); stress on crifanac rather than congoing, among actifans, is the chief extensional distinction between trufans and confans.
1959, Richard Emey, Fancyclopedia II, FanThe state of Wisconsin, once one of the cooler hotbeds of faanish endeavor, today lies fallow, barren and all but devoid of the faintest crepitance of crifanac.
1966 November, Dean Grennell, “A Pilgrim in Never-Never Country”, in Science-Fiction Five-Yearly, number 4, page 19
Origin
Blend of critical + fan + activity. From fanac. Coined by Charles Burbee.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
crifanac. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crifanac
“crifanac.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crifanac. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “crifanac,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crifanac.
Source: crifanac on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.