adj.
- Quaint or strange in form, conception, or appearance.
- Unrestrainedly fanciful; extravagant: fantastic hopes.
- Bizarre, as in form or appearance; strange: fantastic attire; fantastic behavior.
- Based on or existing only in fantasy; unreal: fantastic ideas about her own superiority.
- Wonderful or superb; remarkable: a fantastic trip to Europe.
An eccentric person.
[Middle English fantastik, imagined, from Old French fantastique, from Late Latin phantasticus, imaginary, from Greek phantastikos, able to create mental images, from phantazesthai, to appear. See fantasy.]
fantasticality fan·tas'ti·cal'i·ty (-tĭ-kăl'ĭ-tē) n.fantastically fan·tas'ti·cal·ly adv.
SYNONYMS fantastic, bizarre, grotesque, fanciful, exotic. These adjectives apply to what is very strange or strikingly unusual. Fantastic describes what seems to have slight relation to the real world because of its strangeness or extravagance: fantastic imaginary beasts such as the unicorn. Bizarre stresses oddness that is heightened by striking contrasts and incongruities and that shocks or fascinates: a bizarre art nouveau façade. Grotesque refers principally to deformity and distortion that approach the point of caricature or even absurdity: statues of grotesque creatures. Fanciful applies to what is strongly influenced by imagination, caprice, or whimsy: a fanciful pattern. Something exotic is unusual and intriguing: painted landscapes in exotic colors.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
