Fairsized

Fairsized is an adjective used in English to describe a quantity or extent that is reasonably large, but not extensive. It conveys adequacy or sufficiency within a given context and is commonly applied to crowds, spaces, portions, or budgets.

The term is most often spelled fair-sized, with a hyphen; the closed form fairsized is also encountered, though less common and sometimes regarded as nonstandard by style guides. The hyphenated form is widely preferred in formal writing, while the unhyphenated variant appears more in informal prose.

In use, it typically modifies nouns such as crowd, room, portion, or budget (a fair-sized crowd, a fair-sized room, a fair-sized portion of the budget). It is closely related to adjectives such as sizable, substantial, or decent-sized.

The sense is relative and informal; what counts as fair-sized depends on expectations, standards, and the baseline for comparison.

Origin and usage notes: the compound dates to the 19th century in English literature; today it remains common in everyday speech and in informal writing.

See also: sizable, moderate, adequate.