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fantasy

[fan-tuh-see, -zee]
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noun, plural fan·ta·sies.
  1. imagination, especially when extravagant and unrestrained.
  2. the forming of mental images, especially wondrous or strange fancies; imaginative conceptualizing.
  3. a mental image, especially when unreal or fantastic; vision: a nightmare fantasy.
  4. Psychology. an imagined or conjured up sequence fulfilling a psychological need; daydream.
  5. a hallucination.
  6. a supposition based on no solid foundation; visionary idea; illusion: dreams of Utopias and similar fantasies.
  7. caprice; whim.
  8. an ingenious or fanciful thought, design, or invention.
  9. Also fantasia. Literature. an imaginative or fanciful work, especially one dealing with supernatural or unnatural events or characters: The stories of Poe are fantasies of horror.
  10. Music. fantasia(def 1).
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adjective
  1. noting or relating to any of various games or leagues in which fans assemble players of a professional sport into imaginary teams, and points are scored based on the performance of these players in real games: fantasy football; fantasy sports.
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verb (used with or without object), fan·ta·sied, fan·ta·sy·ing.
  1. to form mental images; imagine; fantasize.
  2. Rare. to write or play fantasias.
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Sometimes phan·ta·sy.

Origin of fantasy

1275–1325; Middle English fantasie imaginative faculty, mental image (< Anglo-French, Old French) < Latin phantasia < Greek phantasía an idea, notion, image, literally, a making visible; see fantastic, -y3
Related formsnon·fan·ta·sy, noun, plural non·fan·ta·sies.

Synonyms

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1. See fancy.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

reverienightmaredelusionfancyillusionvisionmirageinventionchimeratriprainbowcreativityoriginalitybubbleflightapparitionfigmentfabricationvagarydaydream

Examples from the Web for fantasy

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • The journal in question attributes with good reason this fantasy to sadism.

  • Oh, yes, these fantasy movies—we're a little worried about them.

    Reel Life Films

    Samuel Kimball Merwin

  • He fancied he saw her now, not as the heroine of his fantasy, but just as she was.

    Cleo The Magnificent

    Louis Zangwill

  • Howbeit, the following deserves a place as the tail-flounce of his Fantasy.

    The Book of Khalid

    Ameen Rihani

  • He went on with that fantasy, but at this point Kate ceased to attend.

British Dictionary definitions for fantasy

fantasy

phantasy

noun plural -sies
    1. imagination unrestricted by reality
    2. (as modifier)a fantasy world
  2. a creation of the imagination, esp a weird or bizarre one
  3. psychol
    1. a series of pleasing mental images, usually serving to fulfil a need not gratified in reality
    2. the activity of forming such images
  4. a whimsical or far-fetched notion
  5. an illusion, hallucination, or phantom
  6. a highly elaborate imaginative design or creation
  7. music another word for fantasia, fancy (def. 13), (rarely) development (def. 5)
    1. literature having a large fantasy content
    2. a prose or dramatic composition of this type
  9. (modifier) of or relating to a competition, often in a newspaper, in which a participant selects players for an imaginary ideal team, and points are awarded according to the actual performances of the chosen playersfantasy football
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verb -sies, -sying or -sied
  1. a less common word for fantasize
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Word Origin

C14 fantasie, from Latin phantasia, from Greek 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 fantasy

n.

early 14c., "illusory appearance," from Old French fantaisie (14c.) "vision, imagination," from Latin phantasia, from Greek phantasia "appearance, image, perception, imagination," from phantazesthai "picture to oneself," from phantos "visible," from phainesthai "appear," in late Greek "to imagine, have visions," related to phaos, phos "light," phainein "to show, to bring to light" (see phantasm). Sense of "whimsical notion, illusion" is pre-1400, followed by that of "imagination," which is first attested 1530s. Sense of "day-dream based on desires" is from 1926.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
fantasy in Medicine

fantasy

(făn′tə-sē, -zē)
n.
  1. Imagery that is more or less coherent, as in dreams and daydreams, yet unrestricted by reality.phantasia
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.