Fa"bi*an (?), n. A member of, or sympathizer with, the Fabian Society.

Fa"bi*an, a. 1. Of or pertaining to the Roman gens Fabia.

2. Designating, or pertaining to, a society of socialists, organized in England in 1884 to spread socialistic principles gradually without violent agitation.

The Fabian Society proposes then to conquer by delay; to carry its programme, not by a hasty rush, but through the slower, but, as it thinks, surer methods of patient discussion, exposition, and political action.

Fa"bi*an (?), a. [L. Fabianus, Fabius, belonging to Fabius.] Of, pertaining to, or in the manner of, the Roman general, Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus; cautious; dilatory; avoiding a decisive contest.

Fa"bi*an (?), n. A member of, or sympathizer with, the Fabian Society.

Fa"bi*an, a. 1. Of or pertaining to the Roman gens Fabia.

2. Designating, or pertaining to, a society of socialists, organized in England in 1884 to spread socialistic principles gradually without violent agitation.

The Fabian Society proposes then to conquer by delay; to carry its programme, not by a hasty rush, but through the slower, but, as it thinks, surer methods of patient discussion, exposition, and political action.

• Advocating that socialism be reached through a series of gradual and moderate reforms; believing in the slogan, The movement is everything, the goal is nothing; relating to the Fabian Society, a British socialist society advocating reformist socialism.
  
• A fabian socialist, a gradualist socialist; a member of the Fabian Society.
  

• Of, pertaining to, or in the manner of, the Roman general, Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus; cautious; dilatory; avoiding a decisive contest. fabian policy, a policy like that of Fabius Maximus, who, by carefully avoiding decisive contests, foiled Hannibal, harassing his army by marches, countermarches, and ambuscades; a policy of delays and cautions.