fantastic

[fan-tas-tik] /fænˈtæs tɪk/

adjective

conceived or appearing as if conceived by an unrestrained imagination; odd and remarkable; bizarre; grotesque:

fantastic rock formations; fantastic designs.

fanciful or capricious, as persons or their ideas or actions:

We never know what that fantastic creature will say next.

imaginary or groundless in not being based on reality; foolish or irrational:

fantastic fears.

extravagantly fanciful; marvelous.

incredibly great or extreme; exorbitant:

to spend fantastic sums of money.

highly unrealistic or impractical; outlandish:

a fantastic scheme to make a million dollars betting on horse races.

Informal. extraordinarily good:

a fantastic musical.

Also, fantastical.

Origin

1350-1400; Middle English fantastik pertaining to the imaginative faculty < Medieval Latin fantasticus, variant of Late Latin phantasticus < Greek phantastikós able to present or show (to the mind), equivalent to *phantad-, base of phantázein to make visible (akin to phānós light, bright, phaínein to make appear) + -tikos -tic

Related forms

fantastically, adverb

fantasticalness, fantasticality, noun

superfantastic, adjective

superfantastically, adverb

unfantastic, adjective

unfantastically, adverb

Synonyms

1. Fantastic, bizarre, grotesque, weird 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. Weird refers to that which is mysterious and apparently outside natural law, hence supernatural or uncanny: the weird adventures of a group lost in the jungle; a weird and ghostly apparition. Informally, weird means “very strange”: weird and wacky costumes; weird sense of humor.

Examples from the web for fantastic

His works are distinguished by fantastic speculation rather than by scientific method.
He is best known as an author of fantastic fairy tales and even more fantastic plays.
Yet this manifesto is less fantastic than some books thick with academic learning.
It is not among extraordinary and fantastic things that excellence is to be found, of whatever kind it may be.
Other early engravings are more fantastic and less significant of cruelty.
Maybe nowadays modern people could not create such fantastic architecture.
But that system, for all its efficiency, fails to exploit the fantastic genetic diversity of wheat.
He plays jazz piano nightly, and the food is fantastic.
Though fantastic and riveting as her stories may be, her life itself is so much more interesting and full of mystery.
The boomers, however, did not grow into fantastic wealth.

British Dictionary definitions for fantastic

fantastic

/fænˈtæstɪk/

adjective

strange, weird, or fanciful in appearance, conception, etc

created in the mind; illusory

extravagantly fanciful; unrealistic: fantastic plans

incredible or preposterous; absurd: a fantastic verdict

(informal) very large or extreme; great: a fantastic fortune, he suffered fantastic pain

(informal) very good; excellent

of, given to, or characterized by fantasy

not constant; capricious; fitful: given to fantastic moods

noun

(archaic) a person who dresses or behaves eccentrically

Derived Forms

fantasticality, fantasticalness, noun

Word Origin

C14 fantastik imaginary, via Late Latin from Greek phantastikos capable of imagining, from phantazein to make visible

Word Origin and History for fantastic

adj.

late 14c., "existing only in imagination," from Middle French fantastique (14c.), from Medieval Latin fantasticus, from Late Latin phantasticus "imaginary," from Greek phantastikos "able to imagine," from phantazein "make visible" (middle voice phantazesthai "picture to oneself"); see phantasm. Trivial sense of "wonderful, marvelous" recorded by 1938.