fantasy

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
13
Words With Friends
13
Letters
7
Pronunciation
/ˈfæntəsi/
See all 4 pronunciations
/ˈfæntəsi/ · /ˈfæntəzi/ · [ˈfæ̃ɾ̃əsi] · [ˈfænəsi]

Definition of fantasy

8 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

noun

  1. (countable, uncountable)That which comes from one's imagination.
    “Is not this something more than fantasy?”
    “A thousand fantasies / Begin to throng into my memory.”
    “The whole position was so tremendous and so absolutely unearthly, that I believe it actually lulled our sense of terror, but to this hour I often see it in my dreams, and at its mere phantasy wake up covered with cold sweat.”
    “Try as hard as it can, empirical science cannot come up with a naturalistic explanation; it can only slip into fantasies that make scientists feel good because they are in harmony with their opinions, prejudices, and unconscious assumptions about the nature of reality.”
See all 8 definitions

noun

  1. (countable, uncountable)That which comes from one's imagination.
    “Is not this something more than fantasy?”
    “A thousand fantasies / Begin to throng into my memory.”
    “The whole position was so tremendous and so absolutely unearthly, that I believe it actually lulled our sense of terror, but to this hour I often see it in my dreams, and at its mere phantasy wake up covered with cold sweat.”
    “Try as hard as it can, empirical science cannot come up with a naturalistic explanation; it can only slip into fantasies that make scientists feel good because they are in harmony with their opinions, prejudices, and unconscious assumptions about the nature of reality.”
  2. (countable, uncountable)The literary genre generally dealing with themes of magic and the supernatural, imaginary worlds and creatures, etc.
  3. (countable, uncountable)A fantastical design.
    “Embroidered with fantasies and flourishes of gold thread.”
  4. (countable, slang, uncountable)The drug gamma-hydroxybutyric acid.

verb

  1. (transitive)To conceive (something) mentally; to imagine.
  2. (literary, transitive)To fantasize about something).
    “Perhaps I would be able to help him recapture the well-being and emotional closeness he fantasied his brother had experienced with his parents prior to his birth.”
  3. (intransitive)To conceive mentally; to imagine.
    “Firſt I phantaſied that if I liſt to take vpon me the crowne and imperiall Scepter of the realme, now was the time propice and conuenient.”
  4. (intransitive, obsolete)To have a fancy for; to be pleased with; to like.
    “Which he doth most fantasy.”
    “The kyng fantasied so much his daughter Anne that almost everything began to grow out of frame and good order”

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂-der. Proto-Hellenic *pʰáňňō Ancient Greek φαίνω (phaínō) Ancient Greek φαντάζω (phantázō) Proto-Indo-European *-tis Ancient Greek -τις (-tis) Ancient Greek -σις (-sis) Ancient Greek φᾰ́ντᾰσῐς (phắntăsĭs) Proto-Indo-European *-h₂…

See full etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂-der. Proto-Hellenic *pʰáňňō Ancient Greek φαίνω (phaínō) Ancient Greek φαντάζω (phantázō) Proto-Indo-European *-tis Ancient Greek -τις (-tis) Ancient Greek -σις (-sis) Ancient Greek φᾰ́ντᾰσῐς (phắntăsĭs) Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-i-eh₂ Proto-Hellenic *-íā Ancient Greek -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā) Ancient Greek φαντασία (phantasía)bor. Latin phantasia Old French fantasiebor. Middle English fantasie English fantasy Noun inherited from Middle English fantasie, from Old French fantasie (“fantasy”), from Latin phantasia (“imagination”), from Ancient Greek φαντασία (phantasía, “apparition”), from φαντάζω (phantázō, “to render visible”), from φαντός (phantós, “visible”), from φαίνω (phaínō, “to make visible”); from the same root as φάος (pháos, “light”); ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰh₂nyéti, from the root *bʰeh₂- (“to shine”). Doublet of fancy, fantasia, phantasia, and phantasy. Verb from Middle English fantasien, from Old French fantasier. Doublet of fancy.

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