fantasy

[ fan-tuh-see, -zee ]
See synonyms for: fantasyfantasiedfantasiesfantasying on Thesaurus.com

noun,plural fan·ta·sies.
  1. imagination, especially when extravagant and unrestrained.

  2. the forming of mental images, especially wondrous or strange ones; imaginative conceptualizing.

  1. a mental image, especially when unreal or fantastic; vision: a nightmare fantasy.

  2. Psychology. an imagined or conjured up sequence fulfilling a psychological need; daydream.

  3. a hallucination.

  4. a supposition based on no solid foundation; visionary idea; illusion: dreams of Utopias and similar fantasies.

  5. caprice; whim.

  6. an ingenious or fanciful thought, design, or invention.

  7. a genre of fiction involving magical, folkloric, or mythical elements: I've been reading a lot of fantasy lately.

  8. 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.

adjective
  1. noting or relating to a genre of fiction involving magical, folkloric, or mythical elements: All his favorite fantasy novels are about elves.

  2. 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.

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.

Origin of fantasy

1
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English fantasie “imaginative faculty, mental image” (from Anglo-French, Old French ), from Latin phantasia, from Greek phantasía “an idea, notion, image,” literally, “a making visible, display”; see fantastic, -y3
  • Rarely phan·ta·sy .

synonym study For fantasy

1. See fancy.

Other words from fantasy

  • non·fan·ta·sy, noun, plural non·fan·ta·sies.

Words Nearby fantasy

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use fantasy in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for fantasy

fantasy

phantasy

/ (ˈfæntəsɪ) /


nounplural -sies
    • imagination unrestricted by reality

    • (as modifier): a fantasy world

  1. a creation of the imagination, esp a weird or bizarre one

  1. psychol

    • a series of pleasing mental images, usually serving to fulfil a need not gratified in reality

    • the activity of forming such images

  2. a whimsical or far-fetched notion

  3. an illusion, hallucination, or phantom

  4. a highly elaborate imaginative design or creation

  5. music another word for fantasia, fancy (def. 13), (rarely) development (def. 5)

    • literature having a large fantasy content

    • a prose or dramatic composition of this type

  6. (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 players: fantasy football

verb-sies, -sying or -sied
  1. a less common word for fantasize

Origin of fantasy

1
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