phantasmagoryn.
/fanˈtazməɡɔːri/, U.S. /ˌfænˈtæzməˌɡɔri/ = phantasmagoria n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > fancy or fantastic notion > deceptive fancy or illusion > [noun] > succession of
phantasmagory1818
phantasmagoria1939
society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > fiction > [noun] > creation or description of characters > phantasmagoria
phantasmagory1818
phantasmagoria1875
1818 S. Woodworth Poems 167 Museums, sermons, celebration feasts, Phantasmagories, strange and monstrous beasts.
1865 T. Carlyle Hist. Friedrich II of Prussia VI. xxi. iii. 420 The thing is reality; but it reads like a Phantasmagory produced by Lapland Witches.
1873 M. Arnold Lit. & Dogma ii. 76 The phantasmagories of more prodigal and wild imaginations.
1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 945/2 They [sc. Semitic nomads] were the least superstitious of the families of mankind, the least duped by the dream of a beyond, by the phantasmagory of a double or a shadow surviving in the nether regions.
1936 Mind 45 68 In reality one sees many things..spots of diverse colour... These spots dilate and contract... Whence comes this phantasmagory?
1985 Los Angeles Times 3 Nov. (Bk. Review section) 9/2 Allegory often has a way of crossing that nebulous border into phantasmagory.
1995 W. Weaver tr. U. Eco Island of Day Before 98 All collaborated in forming the impression of a presence that was nothing but the effect of a phantasmagory perceived only by the mind.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1818