Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Extravagantly fanciful or imaginative in design, appearance, or conception: Describes something that is unreal, strange, or wonderful in a way that seems to come from the imagination.
   • Extraordinarily good or excellent; used as an intensifier: Used informally to express great approval or admiration for something.
   • Fanciful and unrealistic; foolish: Describes ideas or notions that are based on fantasy rather than reality and are often impractical.
   • Ludicrously odd or grotesque: Describes something that is bizarre, strange, or absurd in appearance or nature.

Examples of Usage

• Extravagantly fanciful:
  • The artist created a fantastic world of floating islands and talking trees.
  • The building's fantastic architecture made it look like a castle from a fairy tale.
• Extraordinarily good:
  • We had a fantastic time at the concert last night.
  • "How was your vacation?" "It was fantastic!"
• Fanciful and unrealistic:
  • He has a fantastic idea that he can become a millionaire overnight.
  • Her plan to build a rocket in her garage is completely fantastic.
• Ludicrously odd:
  • The clown wore a fantastic costume with giant shoes and a rainbow wig.
  • The shadows created fantastic shapes on the wall.

Advanced Usage

• "fantastic voyage": A metaphorical journey that is incredibly strange, wonderful, or imaginative.
  • Reading that novel was like taking a fantastic voyage through time and space.
• "fantastic creature": A being that is imaginary and often has extraordinary or bizarre features.
  • The book is filled with illustrations of dragons and other fantastic creatures.

Variants and Related Words

• Fantasy (n): The faculty or activity of imagining things, especially things that are impossible or improbable.
  • The novel is a work of pure fantasy.
• Fantastically (adv): In a fantastic manner; to a fantastic degree.
  • The garden was fantastically beautiful.
• Fantastical (adj): Another form of "fantastic," often used in more literary contexts with the same meanings.
  • The story is set in a fantastical realm.

Synonyms

• Marvelous: Causing great wonder; extraordinarily good.
• Fabulous: Extraordinary, especially extraordinarily large; also used informally to mean "excellent."
• Unreal: Not real or based in fact; also used informally to mean "incredibly good."
• Bizarre: Very strange or unusual, especially in a striking or shocking way.
• Outlandish: Looking or sounding bizarre or unfamiliar.

Related Phrases (Phrasal Verbs)

(Note: "Fantastic" is primarily an adjective and does not commonly form phrasal verbs.)

Related Idioms

• "trip the light fantastic": A poetic or humorous idiom meaning to dance.
  • They went to the ballroom to trip the light fantastic.

Adjective

1. extravagantly fanciful in design, construction, appearance
   • Gaudi's fantastic architecture
2. existing in fancy only
   • fantastic figures with bulbous heads the circumference of a bushel- Nathaniel Hawthorne
3. fanciful and unrealistic; foolish
   • a fantastic idea of his own importance
4. extraordinarily good or great; used especially as intensifiers
   • a fantastic trip to the Orient
   • the film was fantastic!
   • a howling success
   • a marvelous collection of rare books
   • had a rattling conversation about politics
   • a tremendous achievement
5. ludicrously odd
   • Hamlet's assumed antic disposition
   • fantastic Halloween costumes
   • a grotesque reflection in the mirror