fantasize
Americanverb (used without object)
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fantasizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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fantasized,
past participle, past
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fantasizing
present participle
verb (used with object)
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fantasizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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fantasized,
past participle, past
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fantasizing
present participle
verb
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to conceive extravagant or whimsical ideas, images, etc
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(intr) to conceive pleasant or satisfying mental images
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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fantasizesimple
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fantasizessimple
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have fantasizedperfect
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has fantasizedperfect
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am fantasizingprogressive
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are fantasizingprogressive
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is fantasizingprogressive
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have been fantasizingperfect progressive
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has been fantasizingperfect progressive
Past
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fantasizedsimple
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had fantasizedperfect
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was fantasizingprogressive
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were fantasizingprogressive
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had been fantasizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of fantasize
Explanation
To fantasize is to imagine things that are not true and sometimes not possible. We fantasize about things we wish were real. Have you ever daydreamed that you're a king, or a superstar in the NBA, or able to fly? Then you've been fantasizing. Fantasizing is something everyone does, though we all have different fantasies. You can fantasize about things that are possible or impossible, including being the President, riding a unicorn, or being the President of unicorns. You can fantasize about anything you can imagine.
Vocabulary lists containing fantasize
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Nevertheless, notice what Cornell’s research implies for those who fantasize about being in the stock market on these best days: You need to be heavily invested during bear markets.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026
We get it: we also fantasize about flowing to sunrise yoga on a Saturday morning, or strengthening our core, seaside, during a rejuvenating Pilates session.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
Exploring these accounts, I found that many lead back to Choudhury, keen to speculate and fantasize about which species might be in “The End of Oak Street.”
From Salon ● Apr. 12, 2026
“If I did nothing but eat and lift for six months,” a football fan might fantasize, “I could be a walk-on at the next Jets training camp.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 29, 2026
I wrote this on a piece of paper, dropped it into the prayer box, and began to fantasize about how they would arrive, in a package from Sears, Roebuck.
From "Farewell to Manzanar" by Jeanne Houston
That might include, she further fantasizes, a technology tool you don’t even notice but that focuses your attention to sound vibrations the way glasses give clarity to blurry vision.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 7, 2026
Walter Mitty is a term sometimes used to describe a person who fantasizes about a life more interesting and exciting than their own.
From BBC ● Jan. 21, 2026
He fantasizes about a James Hong comic book series with his brand of sarcastic humor.
From Seattle Times ● May 25, 2023
On the last day of work for Bringley, who a decade later is still a young man, Joseph fantasizes about his own future in their shared language of art.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 9, 2023
She fantasizes that the next place she goes—because there’s always a next place, another foster home, a new school—she’ll start over with a new, easier-to-maintain look.
From "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline
On the journey to the U.S., they fantasized about what classes would be offered at their new school.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026
Duchamp’s seeming disinterest often revealed itself to be something far more venomous, as when he fantasized about a nihilistic readymade: “Use a Rembrandt as an ironing board.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
For years the sisters had fantasized, half-seriously, about having their own YouTube channel.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 30, 2026
What active trader hasn’t fantasized about stepping out of their time-traveling DeLorean in October 1929, 1987 or 2007 with a wad of cash?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 7, 2026
I’d eyed it in catalogues before, fantasized about how it might ride.
From "Warcross" by Marie Lu
Fans are also fantasizing about an appearance from you on Madonna’s album …
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2026
While starving and battling lice, the young women distracted themselves by fantasizing about food.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026
I spent a lot of time fantasizing about the brick-and-mortar bakery I’d open one day.
From Salon ● Apr. 3, 2025
But this wasn’t merely a spectacle of a man engaged in otherworldly fantasizing.
From Slate ● Feb. 4, 2025
I don’t bother fantasizing, because where did that get me last time?
From "A Good Kind of Trouble" by Lisa Moore Ramée
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
