phantasmagoria

[ fan-taz-muh-gawr-ee-uh, -gohr- ]

See synonyms for: phantasmagoria phantasmagoric on Thesaurus.com

noun

a shifting series of phantasms, illusions, or deceptive appearances, as in a dream or as created by the imagination.
a changing scene made up of many elements.

an optical illusion produced by a magic lantern or the like in which figures increase or diminish in size, pass into each other, dissolve, etc.

Origin of phantasmagoria

1795–1805; <French fantasmagorie, compound based on fantasmephantasm; second element perhaps representing Greek agorá assembly, gathering; see -ia

Other words from phantasmagoria

phan·tas·ma·go·ri·al, phan·tas·ma·gor·ic [fan-taz-muh-gawr-ik, -gor-], /fænˌtæz məˈgɔr ɪk, -ˈgɒr-/, phan·tas·ma·go·ri·an, adjective
phan·tas·ma·gor·ist, noun

Words Nearby phantasmagoria

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use phantasmagoria in a sentence

Not only does Marlantes nail down the sensory phantasmagoria and fear of combat, but also the elation.
Anthony Swofford on America’s Best War Writer, Karl Marlantes | Anthony Swofford | November 12, 2011 | THE DAILY BEAST
Swiftly, now, reality was asserting itself and banishing the phantasmagoria conjured up by chandu.
Dope | Sax Rohmer
Savage philosophy mingles them together in one phantasmagoria of grotesquery and horror.
The Science of Fairy Tales | Edwin Sidney Hartland
It is the hour when Byron's brain becomes thronged with a glowing phantasmagoria of ideas that cry aloud for visible expression.
A Day with Lord Byron | May Clarissa Gillington
The old scenes passed through her mind like the changing picture in a phantasmagoria.
East Lynne | Mrs. Henry Wood

The phantasmagoria of moving forms and faces went past and past, as he thought, altogether insignificant, meaning nothing.
A Country Gentleman and his Family | Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant

British Dictionary definitions for phantasmagoria

phantasmagoria

phantasmagory (fænˈtæzməɡərɪ)

/ (ˌfæntæzməˈɡɔːrɪə) /

noun

psychol a shifting medley of real or imagined figures, as in a dream
films a sequence of pictures made to vary in size rapidly while remaining in focus

rare a shifting scene composed of different elements

Origin of phantasmagoria

C19: probably from French fantasmagorie production of phantasms, from phantasm + -agorie, perhaps from Greek ageirein to gather together

Derived forms of phantasmagoria

phantasmagoric (ˌfæntæzməˈɡɒrɪk) or phantasmagorical, adjective
phantasmagorically, adverb

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

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