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Definition of phantasmagoria - 5 dictionary results

phan⋅tas⋅ma⋅go⋅ri⋅a

  [fan-taz-muh-gawr-ee-uh, -gohr-]
Use phantasmagoria in a Sentence
–noun
1. a shifting series of phantasms, illusions, or deceptive appearances, as in a dream or as created by the imagination.
2. a changing scene made up of many elements.
3. an optical illusion produced by a magic lantern or the like in which figures increase or diminish in size, pass into each other, dissolve, etc.
Origin:
1795–1805; < F fantasmagorie, compound based on fantasme phantasm; second element perh. repr. Gk agorá assembly, gathering; see -ia

Related forms:
phan⋅tas⋅ma⋅go⋅ri⋅al, phan⋅tas⋅ma⋅gor⋅ic  [fan-taz-muh-gawr-ik, -gor-] , phan⋅tas⋅ma⋅gor⋅i⋅cal, phan⋅tas⋅ma⋅go⋅ri⋅an, adjective
phan⋅tas⋅ma⋅go⋅ri⋅al⋅ly, phan⋅tas⋅ma⋅gor⋅i⋅cal⋅ly, phan⋅tas⋅ma⋅go⋅ri⋅an⋅ly, adverb
phan⋅tas⋅ma⋅gor⋅ist, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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phan·tas·ma·go·ri·a   (fān-tāz'mə-gôr'ē-ə, -gōr'-)   
n.   pl. phan·tas·ma·go·ri·as also phan·tas·ma·go·ries
    1. A fantastic sequence of haphazardly associative imagery, as seen in dreams or fever.
    2. A constantly changing scene composed of numerous elements.
  2. Fantastic imagery as represented in art.

[Alteration of obsolete French phantasmagorie, art of creating supernatural illusions : perhaps fantasme, illusion (from Old French; see phantasm) + allégorie, allegory, allegorical visual representation (from Old French, allegory, from Latin allēgoria; see allegory).]
phan·tas'ma·gor'ic (-gôr'ĭk, -gŏr'-) adj., phan·tas'ma·gor'i·cal·ly adv.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Phantasmagoria

Phan*tas`ma*go"ri*a\, n. [NL., from Gr. ? a phantasm + ? an assembly, fr. ? to gather: cf. F. phantasmagorie.]

1. An optical effect produced by a magic lantern. The figures are painted in transparent colors, and all the rest of the glass is opaque black. The screen is between the spectators and the instrument, and the figures are often made to appear as in motion, or to merge into one another.

2. The apparatus by which such an effect is produced.

3. Fig.: A medley of figures; illusive images. "This mental phantasmagoria." --Sir W. Scott.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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phantasmagoria 
1802, name of a "magic lantern" exhibition brought to London in 1802 by Philipstal, the name an alteration of Fr. phantasmagorie, said to have been coined 1801 by Fr. dramatist Louis-Sébastien Mercier, from Gk. phantasma "image" + second element probably a Fr. form of Gk. agora "assembly" (but this may have been chosen more for the dramatic sound than any literal sense). Transf. meaning "shifting scene of many elements" is attested from 1822.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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phantasmagoria phan·tas·ma·go·ri·a (fān-tāz'mə-gôr'ē-ə) or phan·tas·ma·go·ry (fān-tāz'mə-gôr'ē)
n. phan·tas·ma·go·ri·as or phan·tas·ma·go·ries
A fantastic sequence of haphazardly associative imagery, as seen in dreams or fever.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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