fantastic

[fan-tas-tik]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR fantastic ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

conceived or appearing as if conceived by an unrestrained imagination; odd and remarkable; bizarre; grotesque: fantastic rock formations; fantastic designs.

fanciful or capricious, as persons or their ideas or actions: We never know what that fantastic creature will say next.

imaginary or groundless in not being based on reality; foolish or irrational: fantastic fears.

extravagantly fanciful; marvelous.

incredibly great or extreme; exorbitant: to spend fantastic sums of money.

highly unrealistic or impractical; outlandish: a fantastic scheme to make a million dollars betting on horse races.

Informal. extraordinarily good: a fantastic musical.

Also fan·tas·ti·cal.

Origin of fantastic

1350–1400; Middle English fantastik pertaining to the imaginative faculty < Medieval Latin fantasticus, variant of Late Latin phantasticus < Greek phantastikós able to present or show (to the mind), equivalent to *phantad-, base of phantázein to make visible (akin to phānós light, bright, phaínein to make appear) + -tikos -tic

Related formsfan·tas·ti·cal·ly, adverbfan·tas·ti·cal·ness, fan·tas·ti·cal·i·ty, nounsu·per·fan·tas·tic, adjectivesu·per·fan·tas·ti·cal·ly, adverbun·fan·tas·tic, adjectiveun·fan·tas·ti·cal·ly, adverb

Synonyms for fantastic

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR fantastic ON THESAURUS.COM

1. Fantastic, bizarre, grotesque, weird share a sense of deviation from what is normal or expected. Fantastic suggests a wild lack of restraint, a fancifulness so extreme as to lose touch with reality: a fantastic scheme for a series of space cities. In informal use, fantastic often means simply “exceptionally good”: a fantastic meal. Bizarre means markedly unusual or extraordinarily strange, sometimes whimsically so: bizarre costumes for Mardi Gras; bizarre behavior. Grotesque implies shocking distortion or incongruity, sometimes ludicrous, more often pitiful or tragic: a grotesque mixture of human and animal features; grotesque contrast between the forced smile and sad eyes: a gnarled tree suggesting the figure of a grotesque human being. Weird refers to that which is mysterious and apparently outside natural law, hence supernatural or uncanny: the weird adventures of a group lost in the jungle; a weird and ghostly apparition. Informally, weird means “very strange”: weird and wacky costumes; weird sense of humor.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for fantastic

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

Examples from the Web for fantastic

Contemporary Examples of fantastic

"Clive has had a fantastic and distinguished career so we listen to what he has to say," he said.
Victim: I Watched British MPs Rape and Murder Young Boys
Nico Hines
December 18, 2014
I had, for a long time, been curious about the place where all this fantastic stuff was made.
A Whisky Connoisseur Remembers That First Sip of The Macallan
December 10, 2014
It is completely nonsensical, and every second is fantastic.
The Most WTF Covers of ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside,’ Everyone’s Favorite Date-Rape Holiday Classic
Kevin Fallon
November 19, 2014
The story was a very subversive fairy tale by Roald Dahl, and a fantastic part.
All Eyes on Anjelica Huston: The Legendary Actress on Love, Abuse, and Jack Nicholson
Alex Suskind
November 10, 2014
Ruben Studdard I thought was fantastic, the best crossover singer since Luther Vandross for me.
Nigel Lythgoe on How to Save Reality TV, ‘On the Town,’ and ‘Brokeback Ballroom’
Kevin Fallon
October 22, 2014

Historical Examples of fantastic

Here it is the fantastic and the bizarre that hold the imagination captive.
The Roof of France
Matilda Betham-Edwards
From it, a thousand wild, illogical, and fantastic conclusions are drawn.
The Story of the Malakand Field Force
Sir Winston S. Churchill
He was beginning to be disagreeably impressed by her fantastic behaviour.
The Secret Agent
Joseph Conrad
It had a physiognomy and character of its own—this fantastic foreigner!
Night and Morning, Complete
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
To-day this appears to the majority of educated men a fantastic conception.
Albert Durer
T. Sturge Moore

British Dictionary definitions for fantastic

fantastic

adjective Also: fantastical

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

created in the mind; illusory

extravagantly fanciful; unrealisticfantastic plans

incredible or preposterous; absurda fantastic verdict

informal very large or extreme; greata fantastic fortune; he suffered fantastic pain

informal very good; excellent

of, given to, or characterized by fantasy

not constant; capricious; fitfulgiven to fantastic moods

noun

archaic a person who dresses or behaves eccentrically

Derived Formsfantasticality or fantasticalness, noun

Word Origin for fantastic

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for fantastic

adj.

late 14c., "existing only in imagination," from Middle French fantastique (14c.), from Medieval Latin fantasticus, from Late Latin phantasticus "imaginary," from Greek phantastikos "able to imagine," from phantazein "make visible" (middle voice phantazesthai "picture to oneself"); see phantasm. Trivial sense of "wonderful, marvelous" recorded by 1938.