fantastic

—fantastically, adv. —fantasticalness, fantasticality, n.

/fan tas"tik/, adj.

1. conceived or appearing as if conceived by an unrestrained imagination; odd and remarkable; bizarre; grotesque: fantastic rock formations; fantastic designs.

2. fanciful or capricious, as persons or their ideas or actions: We never know what that fantastic creature will say next.

3. imaginary or groundless in not being based on reality; foolish or irrational: fantastic fears.

4. extravagantly fanciful; marvelous.

5. incredibly great or extreme; exorbitant: to spend fantastic sums of money.

6. highly unrealistic or impractical; outlandish: a fantastic scheme to make a million dollars betting on horse races.

7. Informal. extraordinarily good: a fantastic musical.

Also, fantastical.

[1350-1400; ME fantastik pertaining to the imaginative faculty < ML fantasticus, var. of LL phantasticus < Gk phantastikós able to present or show (to the mind), equiv. to *phantad-, base of phantázein to make visible (akin to phanós light, bright, phaínein to make appear) + -tikos -TIC]

Syn. 1. FANTASTIC, BIZARRE, GROTESQUE share a sense of deviation from what is normal or expected. FANTASTIC suggests a wild lack of restraint, a fancifulness so extreme as to lose touch with reality: a fantastic scheme for a series of space cities. In informal use, FANTASTIC often means simply "exceptionally good": a fantastic meal. BIZARRE means markedly unusual or extraordinarily strange, sometimes whimsically so: bizarre costumes for Mardi Gras; bizarre behavior.

GROTESQUE implies shocking distortion or incongruity, sometimes ludicrous, more often pitiful or tragic: a grotesque mixture of human and animal features; grotesque contrast between the forced smile and sad eyes: a gnarled tree suggesting the figure of a grotesque human being.

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