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phantasmagoria

 [fan-taz-muh-gawr-ee-uh, -gohr-]   Example Sentences Origin

phan·tas·ma·go·ri·a

   [fan-taz-muh-gawr-ee-uh, -gohr-]
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; < French fantasmagorie, compound based on fantasme phantasm; second element perhaps representing Greek 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·go·ri·an, adjective
phan·tas·ma·gor·ist, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To phantasmagoria

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Phantasmagoria has a plethora of syllables.
So is antidisestablishmentarianism. Does it mean:
opposition to the withdrawal of state support or recognition from an established church, esp. the Anglican Church in 19th-century England.
an obscure term ostensibly referring to a lung disease caused by silica dust, sometimes cited as one of the longest words in the English language.
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Example Sentences
  • Gilliam buries them up to the eyeballs in phantasmagoria.
  • Repeated magnification of the borders plunges one into a bottomless phantasmagoria of baroque imagery.
  • People write to people who write this kind of phantasmagoria.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
phantasmagoria or phantasmagory (ˌfæntæzməˈɡɔːrɪə, fænˈtæzməɡərɪ)
 
—n
1.  psychol a shifting medley of real or imagined figures, as in a dream
2.  films a sequence of pictures made to vary in size rapidly while remaining in focus
3.  rare a shifting scene composed of different elements
 
[C19: probably from French fantasmagorie production of phantasms, from phantasm + -agorie, perhaps from Greek ageirein to gather together]
 
phantasmagory or phantasmagory
 
—n
 
[C19: probably from French fantasmagorie production of phantasms, from phantasm + -agorie, perhaps from Greek ageirein to gather together]
 
phantasmagoric or phantasmagory
 
—adj
 
phantasma'gorical or phantasmagory
 
—adj
 
phantasma'gorically or phantasmagory
 
—adv

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

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
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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.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

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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