The meaingn of 'fancied insult'

Question

I come across the following sentence in "The Godfather" by M. Puso:

Michael sat down and relaxed back into the leather armchair. Hoe thought everything over very carefully. Clemenza was a caporegime in the Corleone Family structure. Don Corleone had made him a millionaire and they had been intimate friends for over twenty years. He held one of the most powerful posts in the organization. What could Clemenza gain for betraying his Don? More money? He was rich enough but then men are always greedy. More power? Revenge for some fancied insult and slight?

My question is what does the last sentence mean? How could fancied insult and slight ever be related there?

Answer 1

Fancied in this context means 'imagined', 'not real', 'made up'.

The Don is unlikely to have insulted or slighted Clemenza but it's possible that Clemenza imagines that he has for whatever reason.

A number of definitions of 'fancy' & 'fancied' can be found at The Free Dictionary.

_{The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. S.v. "fancied." Retrieved November 1 2014 from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/fancied}

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Insult and Slight are pretty much the same thing. See definition 2 of the noun slight at The Free Dictionary.

2. A deliberate discourtesy; a snub: "It is easier to recount grievances and slights than it is to set down a broad redress of such grievances and slights" (Elizabeth Kenny).

_{The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. S.v. "slight." Retrieved November 1 2014 from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/slight}