fantasy

American  

[fan-tuh-see, -zee] / ˈfæn tə si, -zi /

Rarely phantasy

noun

• fantasies
  plural

1. imagination, especially when extravagant and unrestrained.

2. the forming of mental images, especially wondrous or strange ones; 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. a genre of fiction involving magical, folkloric, or mythical elements.

   I've been reading a lot of fantasy lately.

10. Literature. Also an imaginative or fanciful work, especially one dealing with supernatural or unnatural events or characters.

    The stories of Poe are fantasies of horror.

11. Music. fantasia.

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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)

• fantasies,
  present (3rd person singular)
• fantasied,
  past participle,  past
• fantasying
  present participle

1. to form mental images; imagine; fantasize.

2. Rare. to write or play fantasias.

fantasy British  

/ ˈfæntəsɪ /

noun

1. 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 development

8. 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 players

   fantasy football

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verb

1. a less common word for fantasize

Synonym Usage

See fancy .

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonfantasy
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• fantasies
  plural

Participles

• fantasying
  present
• fantasied
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• fantasy
  simple
• fantasies
  simple
• have fantasied
  perfect
• has fantasied
  perfect
• am fantasying
  progressive
• are fantasying
  progressive
• is fantasying
  progressive
• have been fantasying
  perfect progressive
• has been fantasying
  perfect progressive

Past

• fantasied
  simple
• had fantasied
  perfect
• was fantasying
  progressive
• were fantasying
  progressive
• had been fantasying
  perfect progressive

Future

• will fantasy
  simple
• will have fantasied
  perfect
• will be fantasying
  progressive
• will have been fantasying
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of fantasy

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 , -y ³

Explanation

A fantasy is something you imagine, which might involve dragons, unicorns, or an imaginary best friend. If you live in a fantasy world, you're not worrying much about reality — pleasant, maybe, but not very practical. Fantasy is dreams and imagination. In a football fantasy league, you can create your own dream team. In literature, fantasy — a genre similar to science fiction — might include a story about a three-headed squirrel and a bionic aardvark who fall in love on a planet made entirely of strawberries. Romance can be fantasy, too, according to a Billy Joel song: "It's just a fantasy. It's not the real thing. But sometimes a fantasy is all you need."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fantasy fantasies fantasied fantasying

Holly: It has been a dismal summer for Newcastle United with key player departures and a managerial change, leaving Nick Woltemade as the main target for fantasy potential.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026

But offshore internet betting, and the exception enjoyed by fantasy leagues, eroded the principles of sports impresarios.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

The first Game of Thrones stage spin-off has been launched by the Royal Shakespeare Company, and the verdict from most theatre critics is that it's a worthy addition to the epic fantasy franchise.

From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026

It wasn’t only the breathtaking cinematography or the immediate fantasy of booking a flight to Modena and a table at Osteria Francescana.

From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026

“About the fruit free for the taking. But later I thought it had to be a fantasy dreamed up for hungry children.”

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

Like “Born in the U.S.A.” and “Rockin’ in the Free World,” “Pink Houses” was practically destined to be misinterpreted by elected salesmen peddling easy fantasies.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026

Conjuring fantasies is one of humanity’s most ancient arts — a sacred creative practice — but without earthly rooting, the symphony is incomplete.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026

Rags-to-riches stories tend to be as fabulistic as tales designed to sell the upper class as fair and solicitous to the needs of working people, or amenable to Cinderella fantasies.

From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2026

“Like, if they’re experiencing an urge and are worried their fantasies are turning into plans, who can they call immediately?”

From Slate ● Jun. 15, 2026

I looked around the room that I had never in my wildest fantasies imagined I would see.

From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou

So many prisoners were in the camps that it was widely fantasied among them that no free men were left outside.

From Time Magazine Archive

At first, real and fantasied crises led the "brothers and sisters" to make frantic telephone calls to the hospital therapists.

From Time Magazine Archive

But as I travell'd hither through the land, I find the people strangely fantasied; Possess'd with rumours, full of idle dreams.

From King John by William Shakespeare

Meanwhile Mr. Dupont was conducting himself after his usual fantasied fashion.

From For the Major A Novelette by Constance Fenimore Woolson

I love the romanticism of Williamsburg, but perhaps we can revive the rugged American Dream without fantasying it into a never-never land impossible of realization.

From Time Magazine Archive

Even now there is fantasying here and there about seizing the Libyan oilfields or parachuting forces into Saudi Arabia, but no one really believes it could happen.

From Time Magazine Archive

Not much more to him than speaking with a will; than fantasying on the flute in an animated strain.

From History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 10 by Thomas Carlyle

In passion—even in mere fire of the brain—one grasps not so much at the pen as at the string; and in that state alone does musical fantasying succeed better than poetic.

From Titan: A Romance v. 1 (of 2) by Jean Paul Friedrich Richter

Related Words

• delusion
• fancy
• illusion
• nightmare
• reverie
• vision