fantastic

[fan-tas-tik]

adjective

1. extraordinarily good; excellent.

   a fantastic restaurant.

2. Also fantastical

   1. conceived or appearing as if conceived by an unrestrained imagination; odd and remarkable; bizarre; grotesque.

      The most fantastic rock formations are visible from the high plateau of the park’s rim trail.

      Artists rendered fantastic designs in the margin of the manuscript.

   2. fanciful or capricious, as persons or their ideas or actions.

      We never know what that fantastic creature will say next.

   3. imaginary or groundless in not being based on reality; foolish or irrational.

      You can’t let these fantastic fears of yours control your life.

   4. extravagantly fanciful; marvelous.

      The scenery and lighting they created for the dream sequences are truly fantastic!

   5. incredibly great or extreme; exorbitant.

      The rich are spending fantastic sums of money, even in this economy.

   6. highly unrealistic or impractical.

      They hatched a fantastic scheme to make a million dollars betting on horse races.

fantastic

/ fænˈtæstɪk /

adjective

1. strange, weird, or fanciful in appearance, conception, etc

2. created in the mind; illusory

3. extravagantly fanciful; unrealistic

   fantastic plans

4. incredible or preposterous; absurd

   a fantastic verdict

5. informal,  very large or extreme; great

   a fantastic fortune

   he suffered fantastic pain

6. informal,  very good; excellent

7. of, given to, or characterized by fantasy

8. not constant; capricious; fitful

   given to fantastic moods

noun

1. archaic,  a person who dresses or behaves eccentrically

Other Word Forms

• fantasticality noun
• fantastically adverb
• fantasticalness noun
• superfantastic adjective
• superfantastically adverb
• unfantastic adjective
• unfantastically adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of fantastic¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English fantastik “pertaining to the imaginative faculty,” from Medieval Latin fantasticus, variant of Late Latin phantasticus, from Greek phantastikós “able to present the appearence (of something),” derivative of phantázein “to make present to the eye or mind” (akin to phānós “light, bright,” phaínein “to bring to light, cause to appear”) + -tikos -tic

Word History and Origins

Origin of fantastic¹

C14 fantastik imaginary, via Late Latin from Greek phantastikos capable of imagining, from phantazein to make visible

Synonym Study

See bizarre.

Example Sentences

"We were satisfied by the abolition of the housing allowance … but, in fact, another fantastic allowance has appeared."

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"It's the same for both sides and you can play fantastic football on it," he explained.

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"I had the fortunate privilege to share a change room with him when he was younger and he has evolved into a serious cricketer and a fantastic leader," he said.

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He said he had a fantastic time in Dublin but the incident on Saturday was a disappointing end to their trip.

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"He's a fantastic player, a great talent and his finishing is incredible," said the former Bayern Munich and Germany boss.

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Related Words

• absurd 
• crazy 
• exotic 
• fanciful 
• grotesque 
• imaginative 
• implausible 
• incredible 
• insane 
• ludicrous 
• odd 
• outlandish 
• preposterous 
• ridiculous 
• singular 
• unbelievable 
• unreal 
• weird