phantasmagoricadj.
/ˌfantazməˈɡɒrɪk/, /fanˌtazməˈɡɒrɪk/, U.S. /fænˌtæzməˈɡɔrɪk/ Of, relating to, resembling or reminiscent of a phantasmagoria.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > fancy or fantastic notion > deceptive fancy or illusion > [adjective] > phantasmagoria
phantasmagoric1813
phantasmagorial1822
phantasmagoriacal1823
phantasmagorian1827
phantasmagorical1828
1813 Theatr. Inquisitor 2 332 The fleeting and deceptive groups of a phantasmagoric exhibition.
1866 Rural Amer. (Utica, N.Y.) 15 Mar. 90/2 A phantasmagoric panorama of the life-road we have traveled glides by us as we muse.
1883 J. A. Symonds Shakspere's Predecessors (1900) i. 5 The phantasmagoric brilliancy of shows at Court.
1931 Sci. Monthly Aug. 142/2 Inconceivably large masses of highly heated, liquid rock-materials rose from the depths..creating all kinds of bizarre, phantasmagoric and majestic phenomena.
1978 G. Eklund Starless World xvii. 87 Every scientist knew one subject so intimately that everything else in the cosmos assumed a shadowy, insubstantial, phantasmagoric form.
2002 Dance Europe Feb. 20/1 Running the film backwards lends his motion a jerky, phantasmagoric grace.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1813