phantasmagoria

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

noun

1. a shifting series of phantasms, illusions, or deceptive appearances, as in a dream or as created by the imagination.

2. a changing scene made up of many elements.

3. 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.

phantasmagoria

/ ˌfæntæzməˈɡɒrɪk, ˌfæntæzməˈɡɔːrɪə, fænˈtæzməɡərɪ /

noun

1. psychol a shifting medley of real or imagined figures, as in a dream

2. films a sequence of pictures made to vary in size rapidly while remaining in focus

3. rare,  a shifting scene composed of different elements

Other Word Forms

• phantasmagorial adjective
• phantasmagoric adjective
• phantasmagorian adjective
• phantasmagorist noun
• phantasmagorically adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of phantasmagoria¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of phantasmagoria¹

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

Example Sentences

The 90-minute opera is basically a phantasmagoria of how Schoenberg got here.

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A high point for polished yet hirsute L.A. rock: The Eagles’ Hollywood phantasmagoria is named record of the year the same night Fleetwood Mac wins the album prize with the darkly glittering “Rumours.”

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In this enormous projection piece, Eliasson unfurls a phantasmagoria of shifting shapes and amorphous space across a vast fabric scrim stretched between the walls of a large, darkened museum gallery.

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Lurking behind Foreman’s madhouse phantasmagorias is the mind of the artist interrogating its own secret chambers.

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Instead of what you’d expect — legions of them, rising up in gory phantasmagoria — I encountered accounts of very few, chiefly demure lady ghosts, swathed in white, blue, or pink, like Disney princesses.

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