fantasia

[ fan-tey-zhuh, -zhee-uh, fan-tuh-zee-uh ]

noun

1. Music.
   1. a composition in fanciful or irregular form or style.
   2. a potpourri of well-known airs arranged with interludes and florid embellishments.
2. fantasy ( def 10 ).
3. something considered to be unreal, weird, exotic, or grotesque.

fantasia

/ ˌfæntəˈzɪə; fænˈteɪzɪə /

noun

1. any musical composition of a free or improvisatory nature
2. a potpourri of popular tunes woven freely into a loosely bound composition
3. another word for fancy

Word History and Origins

Origin of fantasia¹

From Italian, dating back to 1715–25; fantasy

Word History and Origins

Origin of fantasia¹

C18: from Italian: fancy; see fantasy

Example Sentences

Audiences exhausted by lockdowns and unrelenting 2020-ness were primed for escape into the undersea fantasia of South Africa’s kelp forests, where Foster met her.

From Nautilus

What do we remember more fondly: Fantasia torching a rendition of “Summertime?”

From The Daily Beast

But here the fantasia fell flat, and pleased neither the public nor the musicians.

From Project Gutenberg

At an orchestral rehearsal, held specially for him, he conducted his new Don Quixote Fantasia.

From Project Gutenberg

On this same occasion Tchaikovsky begged Vladimir Stassov to suggest a subject for a symphonic fantasia.

From Project Gutenberg

I have only just finished the composition of a new work, the symphonic fantasia, Francesca da Rimini.

From Project Gutenberg

This is especially the case in the Fantasia, where the connection of parts is anything but masterly.

From Project Gutenberg