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

• fantastically adverb
• fantasticalness noun
• fantasticality 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

"The English support at Perth was fantastic," said the Durham man.

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I think he's been fantastic this weekend - two goals down against Bournemouth and not only does he keep his head and keep his team calm, Sunderland get a 3-2 win and keep on going.

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The “Hamlet” production is a fantastic set piece, with man-made sets and Shakespeare’s theatre-in-the-round filmed as accurately and affectionately as the nature that consumes so much of the film’s first two acts.

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Aspire FC, based in Gedling, said Joshua was a "fantastic goalkeeper and a great character", adding he made a real impact in his age group at the club.

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Ms Cremin said the results were "great to see" and they proved that "the years of fantastic efforts by our volunteers and the farmers and landowners we work with are paying off."

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Related Words

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