noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
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Received-Pronunciation:/ˌfæntæzməˈɡɒɹi.ə/
US:/ˌfæntæzməˈɡɔːɹi.ə/
US:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
rhymes with -ɔːɹiə
CMU ARPABET:F AE0 N T AE2 Z M AH0 G AO1 R IY0 AH0
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
A popular 18th- and 19th-century form of theater entertainment whereby ghostly apparitions are formed.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: historical
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: magic lantern
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
A series of events involving rapid changes in light intensity and color.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
A dreamlike state where real and imagined elements are blurred together.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
1874, Marcus Clarke, For the Term of His Natural Life Chapter V It is impossible to convey, in words, any idea of the hideous phantasmagoria of shifting limbs and faces which moved through the evil-smelling twilight of this terrible prison-house. Callot might have drawn it, Dante might have suggested it, but a minute attempt to describe its horrors would but disgust. There are depths in humanity which one cannot explore, as there are mephitic caverns into which one dare not penetrate.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
4
noun
Meaning 4
a constantly changing medley of real or imagined images (as in a dream)
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Borrowed from French phantasmagorie, from Ancient Greek φάντασμα (phántasma, “ghost”) + possibly either ἀγορά (agorá, “assembly, gathering”) + the suffix -ia or ἀγορεύω (agoreúō, “to speak publicly”).
Across languages
Translations
22 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Catalan:
fantasmagoria
— a series of events
Chinese Mandarin:
走馬燈 /走马灯
(zǒumǎdēng)
— a series of events
Finnish:
fantasmagoria
— a series of events
Japanese:
幻灯
(gentō)
— a series of events
Japanese:
走馬灯
(sōmatō)
— a series of events
Japanese:
影絵
(kage-e)
— a series of events
Serbo-Croatian:
fantazmagòrija
— a series of events
Belarusian:
фантасмаго́рыя
(fantasmahóryja)
— a dreamlike state
Catalan:
fantasmagoria
— a dreamlike state
Finnish:
fantasmagoria
— a dreamlike state
French:
fantasmagorie
— a dreamlike state
German:
Phantasmagorie
— a dreamlike state
Hungarian:
fantazmagória
— a dreamlike state
Italian:
fantasmagoria
— a dreamlike state
Japanese:
幻
(maboroshi)
— a dreamlike state
Polish:
fantasmagoria
— a dreamlike state
Portuguese:
fantasmagoria
— a dreamlike state
Romanian:
fantasmagorie
— a dreamlike state
Russian:
фантасмаго́рия
(fantasmagórija)
— a dreamlike state
Serbo-Croatian:
fantazmagòrija
— a dreamlike state
Spanish:
fantasmagoría
— a dreamlike state
Ukrainian:
фантасмаго́рія
(fantasmahórija)
— a dreamlike state